Cramlington Book Club

A literary version of Sliding Doors is the quickest way to sum this one up. But where Sliding Doors gave the impression of hope and happiness I found The Versions of Us to be filled with sadness and grief. The overall message seemed to be love never lasts, even if you are meant to be together it will end in sadness, you hurt the ones you love and even to some extent have a better career when you are apart. Whilst in the most basic sense - we all die - Barnett is correct I found it depressing to read. I think I fell out with the book (well Jim and therefore the book) in version 1 when he cheated on Eva. I appreciate that a version of them doing nothing but living happily ever after would be boring however I was shocked when I read it and it really spoilt the book for me. My favourite version was number 2. I thought everyone would have a favourite but most in the group didn't which surprised me. Whereas I didn't like the book for the overall message, most stumbled on the vers...

Time for another quick inbetweeny book before our book of the month The Versions of Us. Annabel was given to me by my auntie who had really enjoyed it. Being about a hermaphrodite it was quite topical (I'm thinking about the whole Caitlyn Jenner transgender thing which I appreciate is a totally different issue but still made me think of it) despite it being released nearly 6 years ago. Initially it was very interesting and I liked the slow paced descriptive tone. I really enjoyed the parts about Labrador and could have read more about it. I felt the suffering of Jacinta and even Treadway and liked the supporting characters however I feel like the book started to taper off when Wayne decided to leave Labrador. It felt like wasted pages. I also didn't get Wally and why she didn't speak to Wayne but then seemingly welcomed him with open arms years later. Tomasina was also a funny one - meddling then taking off to ramble before meddling again. My affection for Treadway gr...