Group Read, July 2020: The Master

Our group read for July is The Master by Colm Toibin. Please join in the read and post any comments on this thread.

I have my copy and will probably start reading in a week or so.

This sounds like an interesting one. I think I'll give it a try if I have time this month.

Two chapters in and enjoying this a lot -- far more than The Ambassadors which I read to prepare myself. The subtle emotions, the fears and weaknesses and embarrassements, were great in both chapters, and the Ireland chapter was clearly very close to the author's own heart and very intense because of that.

I have been reading The Master for a few days now and I am quite taken with Colm Toibin's writing and his interpretation of Henry James.

I have completed The Master and although I can't say that I loved it, it was beautifully written and informative. I gave it 4 stars.

I read this a while back, but I do have a memory of being baffled by the final chapter. What did you all think?

>7 ELiz_M: I think that the final chapter is there to bring us back to the family members who still live, since we've mostly been with the dead until now. That's why it opens with the discussion of a seance and how William & Alice have been in touch with their mother. The chapter conveys whole new revelations about the James family dynamics. And it brings out things about death and solitude that were latent throughout this book.

This book is really remarkable. Its structure is so careful and so different from most novels. As a study in psychology, and in the mind of a writer, it's fascinating. I'm glad that I'd just read The Ambassadors, a book I think I'd appreciate more if I read it again now!

http://arukiyomi.com/?p=6309

I enjoyed this one.