The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher

Name:  Adrienne Haus

Assignment:  Summer Essay for AP Literature/ English 11.

Objective:  To read five books chosen from the "summer reading list".  Must learn at least twenty new literary terms and include in the paper.

Problems:  Forced to join summer "book club" by mothers.  Why do mothers always want to mess up their daughters lives?

Girls in the Unbearable Book Club:

Adrienne- Hurt her knee and is stuck in town with her knee in a brace. Raised by single mother and has never met her dad.  Easily influenced.

CeeCee-Defies the rules.  Pretty and popular.  Got caught driving without a license.  Won't read the books.  Creates a website for the book club.

Jill- Works at the summer pool selling snacks.  Adopted.  Asian with white parents.  Good head on her shoulders.  The voice of reason.  Needs to socialize more.

Wallis- Loner.  Loves to read and wanted to join the book club.  Lives on the edge of town in the woods.  No one has met her mother.  Odd girl out.  Mysterious.

Books:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Essay or thoughts on the book:

I love the creativity that Julie Schumacher incorporates in her novel The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls.  The characters are interesting, the plot is stimulating and I felt like an honorary member of the book club.  I wish I had read all the books they discussed.  I have only read two out of the five books, The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening and they are two of my absolute favorite books.  I have big plans to read the other three and don't worry, Schumacher doesn't put any major spoilers in her text to frighten you away.

Each chapter begins with a Vocabulary term from AP Literature and the whole book is Adrienne's summer essay that she turns in, in the Fall.  I really liked how the book was set up and formatted. It is interesting how none of the girls were friends at the beginning of the book and forced into the book club by their mothers.  By the end, the girls lives have been altered dramatically as well as their mothers lives.  Change is in the air.  Just goes to show you the power of a good story and the transformative powers of a book club, even one, you don't want to belong to.

I love reading books about books and book clubs.  

Are you in a Book Club?