A MONTH OF SUNDAYS | Liz Byrski | 2018

I wanted to like this book. And I did, in parts. After reading many people’s, well yes women’s, opinions of this book, I thought it would be a light read after my previous book The Tree of Man by Patrick White (see the blog for my review). And light it was, in fact I think it might have just floated away!

This is the story of four older, single women who are all at crossroads in their lives. They have been members of an online book club for years and take the opportunity to have five or six weeks together in the Blue Mountains. Each has to bring a book that explains who they are.

The descriptions of each of the women seem formulaic: each has a problem that they try to hide; each has a vast cast of characters and history in their lives that the author tells (not shows) in great detail. It’s almost as if they are the required stereotype characters: the workaholic, the recently retired at a loose end woman, the sick one, and the beautiful one with a dark secret. The writing of their conversations is quite banal in places. I mean, how many adjectives can you use to describe how delicious the pancakes are? Yes there’s warmth, yes there’s humour but as one reviewer said, ‘hey, it’s not literature’.

However, the passages that describe the four chosen books; the authors’ motives, and plots are very well realised and give the story an interesting take on the four women. A quote late in the book describes how books are important to readers: We talk about books, we make them work in our own lives: walk through the doors they open for us, cross the bridges they lay out for us, and pick and choose what we need to take away from them. This was the defining moment in the book for me.

I can definitely understand the readership for this book. It’s pure escapism for bookish women of a certain age. Yes I did finish it. Will I remember it fondly? I doubt it.