Meeting #6: Party of the Century

As Erin and I discussed this morning, book club meetings are aging like a fine wine: we're just getting better and better with time! In attendance were Erin, Josh, Dimona the dog, Marissa, Mike, Meghan, Katie, Jhani, and last but not least, we finally met the famous Jackie! We hope Jackie enjoyed her first meeting and will be coming back to more.

The food scene was prettttty good last night; a delicious spread of some of Erin's yummy specialties, some healthy slaw, and....Cheez-Its! Like I've said before, there are no rules in book club. :)

We started our discussion almost right away and had lots to say:

We all had different feelings about what parts of the book were actually interesting. Some of us liked the in-depth look at the different characters of New York society life while others of us were bored with those parts.

Everybody was intrigued by the parts referring to the time in Truman's life when he was writing In Cold Blood, but that was not the focus of the book, so we wanted more (recommendations went around to see the movie Capote and to actually read In Cold Blood). Side note: we briefly discussed the shadiness of Truman's relationship with one of the killers during his In Cold Blood research and then discussed the photograph of said killer....guy was kind of cute. #awkwardandinappropriatethoughts

It was mentioned that the party itself, after all that build-up, seemed anti-climatic at the end of the book. However, New York society's positive response to the "success" of the party was interesting.

We were all horrified by the Social Register; a little black book that lists who is socially elite based on their lineage and ethnicity. Yes, this was a real thing in which you had to be white and rich and married to an "acceptable" person to be included.

We couldn't believe some of the people that Truman chose NOT to invite to his party, like his family or old friends from before he became famous such as Carson McCullers and the actress, Ina Claire. This was discussed in connection to the juxtaposition of Truman having so many friends and fighting his way up the social ladder but also really only ever looking out for himself and not worrying about burning bridges and hurting feelings.

We also wished there were more photos in the book.

All in all, it was new material for all of us and definitely interesting. Thanks, Mike, for picking a book that was different from the rest!

After book discussion......bookclubbers went a little HAM. Sangria was flowing, whipped cream was spraying, dogs were napping, laughter was abundant. Thank you, Sussmans, for hosting a kickass meeting!