The Lantern group read, week 1

I've never done a group read before, unless you count various and sundry challenges which might have a limited number of reading options. (Shakespeare Reading Challenge, where are you?? Oh my gosh, and how could I have forgotten the Anna Karenina Support Group? Ok, now I'm sorry I dismantled the site.) When this book, The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, came up as a group read for this year's RIP VI - and the book became available at my local library - I thought, "Why not?" The RIP is always a very active group, and I thought it would be fun to participate. Of the three books on offer for the group read, The Lantern sounded best for me:

When Eve falls for the charming, secretive Dom, their whirlwind romance leads them to Les Genevriers, a run-down, yet beautiful house int he South of France. But as summer fades to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries the house seems to be hiding - not least the strange disappearance of Dom's beautiful first wife. And what is the connection to a young girl who lived in the house decades before?

As Les Genevriers' tangled history begins to unravel, and Dom grows increasingly distant, Eve must discover the secrets of the past - before history has a chance to repeat itself.

I chose a few of the week one questions to post about in this discussion. As a fair warning, I have already read the whole book; I'll mark clearly for any spoilers, but it's more likely that my opinions are coloured by having completed the novel as opposed to just the first two sections.

Question 2. The book appears to be following the experiences of two different women, alternating back and forth between their stories. Are you more fond of our main protagonist's story or of Benedicte's or are you enjoying them both equally?

This is always somewhat of a problem for me, narratively. I find that I identify with one narrator first and quickly, and then spend a lot of time impatiently reading the second narrator's pieces, waiting to get back to the first. In this instance I latched on to "Eve" as my narrator-of-choice. This could be simple logistics: "Eve" has the first chapter and narration (not counting the very brief prologue.) It could also be identification: I have more in common with a slightly melancholic twenty-something woman caught in questions of self-identity than I do with a Frenchwoman living on a farm in the past. I found our main protagonist more interesting, and with more of a clear narrative line than Benedicte's ruminations on her family and growing up.

Question 3. The Lantern is a book filled with descriptions of scents. How are you liking (or disliking) that aspect of the book? How do you feel about the lavish description of scents? How are the short chapters working for you?

Honestly, I found it interesting for awhile and then a little repetitive. Part of this is from personal experience. A long, long time ago I worked at Bath and Body Works for a long, long time, and it was during this time they introduced their Le Couvant des Minimes line (which I loved, for the record, and which they no longer produce. Apparently the place itself, Le Couvant, is still going, but L'Occitane does their spa and products. And frankly, they were pretty similar lines to begin with - Le Couvant and L'Occitane. ) As a part of this product launch we had some rather good training in the scents and the products of Provence, primarily in the lavender, lemon, and honey areas, and how they were traditionally used. At the same time I was writing my novel and included a tiny bit that utilized this training to reflect the lavender aroma and the nostalgia it evoked in my character. So at first, when The Lantern harks on about scent and its particular place in the south of France, I smiled in recognition of this both as a truth and as a place-setting device. But to me, it very quickly became repetitive, [slight spoiler] even with Marthe's developing talents [end of spoiler]. However, it definitely is evocative of place, and I would rather be engaged with multiple senses than having to rely on visual cues alone.

Sometimes the short chapters are rather jarring. I think this also plays into my feelings about the dual narrative as I discussed above: the structure of the book with its short chapters and dual narrative makes me feel disjointed from both plots and doesn't help me try to fully identify with either narrative.

Bonus question: Did anyone else hear "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" ringing in their ears through the first sections of the book?

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. [spoiler again] And it only got more pervasive as the book continued. [end of spoiler]

There we have it, week one! I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else is getting along.