The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

Because Emily asked me to switch months with her I am leading the discussion for June's book club at work I paused my read of There's Something About Sweetie. June's book is this one and it is my first Sarah Blake read. And I am hooked on her writing and will now seek to read anything else she has written.


The first thing that struck me and is sticking with me is how beautiful the use of language is from the first page to the last, even when the ideas, sentiments, emotions, even when they are ugly and painful, the way it is written is beautiful. I guess that's intentional (or me reading too much into it) since life is often if not always both beautiful and ugly and painful at the same time.

The Guest Book is the story of the Milton family told from the past with matriarch Kitty as our point of contact and the present with Kitty's granddaughter Evie as our point of contact. The past begins in the 1930's and begins moving forward heading into the present where it intersects and sheds light on Evie's story even as Evie's story unfolds moving backwards and heading to a point where it intersects with Kitty's and Joan's.

As the story of Kitty and her children and their social circle unfold we met outsiders Len (a Jewish man) and Reg (a black man) who form a bond with Kitty's son Moss and daughter Joanie. In the present Evie is faced with a colleague and friend calling her on her white privilege while in the past the divide between white and black people is looked next to the divide placed between white people and Jews and the differences in how it was talked about and treated. And it is far from pleasant and was quite painful to read. But it was handled with what felt like such a naked realness that I think we the readers are supposed to be uncomfortable and angry and saddened. Intertwined in this drama is the story of a family, what family means, what place history and memory plays in our lives. If you don't squirm and feel the pain and disconnect on behalf of Len and Reg then that says something more about you than it does about the story Blake has weaved in the pages of her book.


This is going to be an incredible book club night!!!

(Finished May 29, 2019)