March Book Club - The Bowl with Gold Seams

On Wednesday, March 16, eight of us discussed “The Bowl with Gold Seams” by Ellen Prentiss Campbell (a Smithie). This interesting novel brings to light an unusual moment in history, when a group of Japanese diplomats, captured in the fall of Berlin in World War II, was housed in a Pennsylvania resort/hotel as prisoners of war. Most of us agreed that Campbell’s plotlines contained a couple of missteps, and that the writing was uneven, but we found the book compelling, with meaningful themes, and felt the author had been particularly successful in conveying the weight of memory.

Upcoming:

• April 20: “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman (available at Kepler’s)

• May 18: “Band of Sisters” by Lauren Willig