There is nothing like an early Saturday morning book club meeting to get the endorphins flowing, and Twilla selected the PERFECT book when she chose "How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House" by Cherie Jones for our February meeting.
Our call to action for this meeting was to have a tropical drink and to have our surrounding
area reflect the setting of the book. It was fun seeing the members come on the screen in their festive colors and "props" representing the Islands. Twilla greeted us with a mirage of palm trees as her background, and there was even one member (who shall remain nameless) who ATTEMPTED to re-create the book cover (Tee Heeeeee).
Twilla began our meeting by highlighting National "Heart Health" and "Go Red For Women" Month. She encouraged everyone to eat healthier and to "keep moving!!"
It was refreshing to start our interaction with an icebreaker game. Twilla pulled some quotes and situations from the book and asked us to "name the character" or situation. Valerie was the winner of the game with 8 correct responses!! Valerie was awarded an Amazon gift card and Celeste was awarded an Amazon gift card for being the first to write a book review!
Author Cherie Jones joined our meeting and began our book discussion with her motivation for writing "How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House" and her excitement upon learning it was selected for the "Good Morning America (GMA)" book club. She mentioned how she received the announcement, but had to stifle her excitement and keep it quiet for several months.
We began our Q&A with the topics of symbolism and imagery in the book, specifically noting several dream sequences and the "Angel Number" 25. Ms. Jones acknowledged the symbolism and purposes behind it, however she mentioned that she had been asked on several occasions about the number
25 and the numeric and spirituality surrounding it. She then went on to say that it was uncanny, because her favorite chapter was 25. She admitted while it was not purposeful on her part, there are times when intuition and spiritually take over during the writing process.
Cherie Jones spoke about many topics and weighed in on the social and economic conditions in Barbados, while highlighting the culture and beliefs. She delved into the characters names and how some of the names just came to her and how some of them were representations of character or symbols. We went into great detail about the pronunciation and importance of that in the book. For example, Lala should be pronounced as a lyric (La' La') to mimic the melody that her mother, Esme sang when she was born. In the traditional Igbo language, the name "Tone" refers to a male's genitalia - therefore translates to the character, Tone's profession as a male prostitute.
Gender roles and manipulation were discussed in detail with regards to Adan and the constant usage of the phrase "As Man". It was important for the reader to know that Adan expected to be revered for his size and "station" in Barbados. This is also expressed in his continued efforts to try to control and manipulate Lala by singing her name and attempting to capture the exact iambic pentameter as Esme's.
The question was broached regarding the reception of the book in Barbados and Ms. Jones "chuckled" that it was ironic that this question was asked because just the night before, at a market, she received a derogatory comment from someone accusing her of belittling her County and showing Barbados in a bad light.
Ms. Jones closed with expressing how much she appreciated book clubs and enjoys participating in discussions.
Twilla thanked Cherie Jones for joining us and we all extended our heartfelt appreciation and showed her some "Author Love". Once the author disembarked, Twilla covered few additional questions before closing to a rousing applause of gratitude.
Twilla really took us to Barbados, on a journey that began with a parable and continued with murder, mayhem tunnels, internal demons and so much more. Phew, we are still reeling from this one.
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