Book Club: A Marriage of Opposites

On Wednesday the 19th, eight of us (supplemented by emailed comments from a regular who couldn't attend) met to discuss "The Marriage of Opposites" by Alice Hoffman. Thanks to Jean Davidson for kindly hosting us.

We had mixed opinions about this book: several found it a compelling page-turner, one thought it was a bit of a slog. It had a number of interesting themes to explore, including women's lack of empowerment, slavery in the Caribbean, the boundaries of race, religion and class and the impact of transgressing them, mothers and daughters, how easy it is not to know others even in a small island community. We felt the author did not imbue her characters with much psychological depth and isn't a great storyteller but we greatly admired her scene-setting and depiction of place, especially St. Thomas.