Tuesday 3 March 2020
Present: Vanessa, Gill F, Gill C, Sabine, Nic
Slow and comically inept but friendly service, left us gathering, over a period of about 30 minutes, with no offer of drinks. However the food was really rather good: arancini; prawns with Pernod risotto; crab cakes; calamari; pumpkin; fennel and orange salad; mushroom risotto; a variety of patsas with pig cheeks, with prawns, with something else I can't remember ... all served "family style" (Corvid 19 be damned - we may have done elbow bump greetings but this book group still shares food!).
The family slide show of scenes from Sicily projected on to the back wall made this a great venue for the book discussion and, while everyone thought this was a tough read, most persevered and it wasn't universally loathed. We agreed that, with lots of atmosphere and not a lot of action, a more detailed knowledge of the place and time may have been useful to get the most out of "one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature" (Wikipedia) and "the 10 best historical novels" (The Observer). "I didn't finish it." (Nic)
I might try again. On the other hand, apparently, it is a superb movie ...
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