Before I get into the book discussion, I want to remind everyone that on October 4, we will meet at Carla G's. Our book is "Culpability." Our November book club will meet on the 8th, as Arnora is out of town the first week. November's book is "Finding Me."
We met at Twin Lakes Restaurant for lunch and then met at the bookstore for our discussion. We missed Carla A, whose son and daughter-in-law were in town. Tammy and Maria were going to join us, but Tammy wasn't feeling well. We also missed Barb and Janie.
The novel, written by Thomas Schlesser, shows the healing powers of slow looking at art. Mona is ten when she has a medical event that causes her to temporarily lose her sight. At first, they cannot find a diagnosis for the condition, and they decide to monitor her as well as prescribe hypnosis.
Mona's grandfather ignores the therapist's appointments. Instead of taking her to the appointments, he takes her to a museum. Each week they talk about one painting, its history, and the artist. He looks at the pieces with Mona and asks her questions to consider that teach her life lessons. They visit the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou.
Art is often someone else's processed trauma. You cannot truly see the present until you dare to look slowly and deeply at the past. Slow looking at art, slow reading literature, and listening to soft instrumental music regulate the nervous system. It can be as healing as meditation.
Her grandfather, a former war photographer, has another idea and decides to take her to a museum once a week instead of therapy. He introduces Mona to a different masterpiece each week, where they practice "long looking" at and discussing the piece at length.
Mona's family is also struggling at home. Her father's vintage-goods and curiosity shop is failing. He is hiding his fears and shame in alcohol. Mona’s mother is working hard, trying to hold the family together.
Mona's grandfather ignores the therapist's appointments. Instead of taking her to the appointments, he takes her to a museum. Each week they talk about one painting, its history, and the artist. He looks at the pieces with Mona and asks her questions to consider that teach her life lessons. They visit the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou.
As their year comes to an end, Mona discovers that it is a locket from her deceased grandmother that triggered the loss of her eyesight. The story of her grandmother's activism and deliberate plan to die triggered the psychosomatic event.
Along the way, Mona finds a figurine that is worth a lot of money, and her dad's business is saved. Mona and her dad are healing at the same time.
When we look at art, we are always confronting the past. We confront the artist's past and the historical details of the times they lived in. While we confront that past, we are allowed to connect and confront our own, if we but take the time.
I was confused, at first, by the cover art. Why use The Girl with the Pearl Earring when Mona is named for the Mona Lisa? It turns out that Vermeer's painting is nicknamed The Mona Lisa of the North. It hangs in The Hague and not in Paris. Using it as the cover expands the discussion of the art.
The book had mixed reviews. Some had a hard time getting into it. Most enjoyed the discussions of the art, but a few had a difficult time connecting to the family drama. Overall, the book was rated 3.91.
Diana closed out the meeting by reading to us from her photo book of the rescued Pelican from Ski Island earlier this year. We brainstormed some ways to fundraise for Wild Care Oklahoma who rehabbed the Pelican and returned it to the wild.
