Eleven of us met for the first time in the back room of The Art Cafe in Nyack to discuss In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. It was wonderful that everyone except for Mira was able to attend. The first half hour was spent getting to know each other by introducing a person the least known to one another, finding what the two people had in common, and divulging something about the person we could NEVER tell by just looking at them! I'm so excited to be in a book club with all of you ladies! Now I've also learned where to get great seltzer, and where to get free tennis lessons for breast cancer survivors -- what an eclectic group!
We discussed many of the issues and themes from the book - family, survival, betrayal, atrocities. Thanks to our discussion, I grew to like the book better, even the slow beginning. As an ESL teacher, I am so impressed by Vaddey Ratner's writing ability - the author arrived in this country as age 11, and this is her first novel! The book inspired me to learn more about this evil time, The Khmer Rouge, which though I lived through it as a teenager, I really knew nothing about it.
Thank you everyone, for being a part of this great new book club!
XXOO
Robin
