Note 1: The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey

What is it?

First published in 2018. Set in the 15^th Century in a village in Somerset,  the novel details the events over four days on and before Shrove Tuesday - the beginning of Lent.

Narrated by the village priest John Reve, it begins  with the discovery of a drowned man by the river. The Rural Dean arrives to investigate and suspects it is murder.  The priest and the villagers are swept up in his search for the culprit. Over the course of the story, told in reverse, beginning on Shrove Tuesday and ending four days earlier,  we learn who the drowned man was and how he met his end. 

The novel plays with and eventually confounds our expectations of how such a  ‘crime’ might be solved. In doing so it describes in detail the  religious and superstitious beliefs of the villagers,  contrasting their apparent honesty during their Lenten confessions,  with the behaviour of their priest Reve who we discover has weaknesses of his own. 

Why read it?

We were divided about the book. So that made for a lively discussion! We all agreed that it was an unusual and surprising take on the murder/mystery novel, also that it gave a vivid and colourful description of life in a medieval village with all its smells, mess and mud.  Fans of the book found the central character of the priest convincing and engaging: we get to know him and trust him as his parishioners do. This makes his behaviour,  which is gradually uncovered,  particularly surprising.  Our expectations are also subverted when the truth about the suspicions of the Rural Dean, an unsympathetic figure from the start,  is finally revealed.  Fans thought the book had some interesting things to say about truth and its relationship to faith and also about the power of self-deception (perhaps another kind of faith?.  It raises questions for today about fake news, demonstrating how people can convince themselves and others of a ‘truth’ when the very opposite is the case.

Why give it a miss?

While some of us found the plot powerful and intriguing,  others disagreed:  they thought the villagers’ confessions were too long winded. They also felt that the reverse time structure, together with the number of characters, made it hard to keep track of the story.  Also that there was a risk you might feel a bit tricked by the way the plot twists and turns towards the ending. 

What we asked

Why did author choose this time and place to set the book ? 

What is it saying about religious faith?

What does the western wind signify? God’s forgiveness, wishful thinking or something else?

Does telling the  story backwards work? What does it do to the narrative and our expectations?

What is the author suggesting would be the upshot of John Reve’s behaviour?

Will the village survive the predatory monks?

Is the Dean there to represent scepticism?  Does he show us how we should really have reacted to Reve and Carter’s account?

Score 

A mix of 4s and 3s. So about 3.75 overall.

Keep?  

Three of us decided to keep it, two to give it away.

NOTES 

FROM

A 

SMALL

BOOK GROUP

About this blog

This blog grew out of a general feeling in our book group that it might be good to have a bit of help now and again when we're choosing our next book.

Sometimes we look at reviews before we choose. But we may not always want to read a full review as this can spoil the excitement of discovery.  Or maybe we just don’t have the time.  What we’d like is a taster.  So Notes from a Small Book Group aims to be just that. If you're in a book group and wondering what to read next I hope you'll find it useful. 

Here's how it works:

What is it?  

- gives a short introductory summary of the book. I'll avoid plot spoilers where possible but a few are inevitable. 

Why read it?  

- outlines what we felt were its strengths.  

Why give it a miss?  

- does the same for what we felt were its weaknesses. 

What we asked 

- lists some questions and issues that we discussed.

Score 

- this is the score out of 5 that we gave the book at the end of our discussion. 5 is the top score, 1 (or occasionally even 0) is the lowest. 

Keep?

-  we force ourselves to decide whether the book would get a coveted place on our overcrowded bookshelves, or whether it goes in the pile for the charity shop  – often a hard decision but interesting to see how it focuses the mind!

A quick point about the discussion questions in the What we asked section of each Note: as a writer I tend to focus on a book as a created work and by that I mean it’s an expression of the writer’s creative intention. We often look at the choices the writer has made about language, structure, theme, tone etc and what their effect is,  as well as on plot, characters and so on.  Of course every book group and reader will have its/their own focus and these Notes are not meant to tell anyone what to talk about or indeed what to think! They just reflect our own discussions.  Sometimes we’ve had useful and surprising insights into the book (or they seem so after a bottle of wine and supper!). So I hope the questions will be interesting to others too. If you'd like to let us know what your book group thought about the book then do post a comment. 

Who are we?

There are five of us - yes it really is a small book group!  We meet approximately once a month and take it in turns to host and provide supper.  At the end of the discussion, the host puts forward three or four books for us to choose from for the next meeting and we make up our minds. 
We've known each other for years and are all good friends - even when we disagree about a book.  Some of us work, some of us don't. What we all share is a love of reading. If you're reading this then chances are you do too!


@NotesfromASmallBookGroup