September Book Club Discussion: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

My book club, The Eclectic Bookworms, met last weekend at Novel Places to discuss our September pick, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (check out my review, which contains a non-spoiler plot summary).  I’m going to recap our discussion here, and if you’ve read the book, please feel free to weigh in.  If you haven’t read the book, beware of spoilers!!

Most of the book club members liked The Thirteenth Tale, a story with gothic undertones about a young biographer, Margaret Lea, tasked with taking down the life story of a famous eccentric writer, Vida Winter, who is known for not telling the truth when asked about her past.  Three of us (including myself) really enjoyed it, a couple liked it overall, and my husband thought it was just okay.  Unfortunately, having to work overtime during the last couple of weeks prevented him from finishing the book, but even he admits that this one wasn’t his usual fare.

Some of us grew tired of the extraneous details, like paragraphs about sharpening pencils and the curl of the pencil shavings, but those of us who really enjoyed the book admitted that these details also enabled us to really picture the scenes in our minds.  One member was frustrated at the number of references to Jane Eyre (29 in all, according to his Kindle), while I had to admit that other than the devastating fire that changed Vida’s life forever, I was too engrossed in figuring out the mystery to catch all the symbolism.

We discussed whether a writer as famous as Vida Winter would turn to an amateur biographer to tell her story, and most of us agreed that Vida is eccentric enough (with one member saying she reminds her of Joyce Carol Oates) and was more concerned about Margaret’s understanding of the sibling relationship than her experience as a biographer.  Besides, as another member pointed out, what famous biographer would put up with Vida’s demands, particularly her insistence that Margaret not ask any questions during the telling of her tale?

We also talked about whether Margaret was a necessary plot device or whether Vida’s story within the story could have stood on its own, with most of us agreeing with the former; how the thirteenth tale, when it was finally unearthed, was a bit anticlimactic because we’d already heard the story; and how most of us didn’t buy the degree to which Margaret was haunted by the twin she never knew.  Some of us were infuriated by Margaret’s decision regarding the publication of Vida’s story, and some of us thought the scene at the end with Margaret’s twin was cheesy.  Another topic that came up was whether Vida actually told the truth this time around, and we discussed the importance of truth in storytelling…and I surprised myself by remembering Tim O’Brien’s piece about telling a true war story in The Things They Carried.

The Thirteenth Tale was the last book in the club’s first go-round, and I’m just thrilled the club has stayed together long enough to complete a cycle.  Of the books we’ve read so far, I’d have to say City of Thieves by David Benioff was my favorite, followed by The Thirteenth Tale.  Stay tuned for my wrap up of our October pick, The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I feel like I’m the only person who hasn’t read it yet, so I can’t wait!

If you’re in a book club, what’s the best book you’ve discussed so far?

© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Source: Personal library
Rating: ★★★★☆

All morning I struggled with the sensation of stray wisps of one world seeping through the cracks of another.  Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you?  You leave the previous book with ideas and themes — characters even — caught in the fibers of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.

(from The Thirteenth Tale, pages 289-290)

The Thirteenth Tale is a novel after a book lover’s heart.  It’s a hard book to describe because there are so many twists and turns, and I don’t want to give anything away.  The primary narrator is Margaret Lea, an amateur biographer who works in her father’s antique book shop.  Voracious readers like myself won’t have any trouble connecting with her because she talks a lot about her passion for books and all the classics she’s loved over the years.  Margaret prefers to read classic novels, so when England’s most famous contemporary author requests her as a biographer, she doesn’t know what to expect.

Vida Winter is an eccentric author whose most famous book, Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation, actually featured only 12 tales, making the world curious about her and the missing tale; the lone copy sold before the mistake was caught and “thirteen” was removed from the title is in the possession of Margaret’s father.  Margaret isn’t familiar with Miss Winter’s work, but she knows that Miss Winter is a consummate storyteller, as any journalist who inquires about her past is told a fanciful story that is obviously not the truth.

Margaret agrees to hear the story of the elderly and ill writer, but naturally, she is skeptical about Miss Winter’s ability and willingness to tell the truth and first asks for three details that can be verified.  The narrative then shifts between Vida’s story of the unbelievably odd Angelfield family and Margaret’s research, which takes her to the ruins of the home where Vida says her personal story ended and her life as Vida Winter, author, began.

Although the book started a little slow — I was anxious to “meet” Vida Winter — Diane Setterfield’s beautiful prose hooked me from the first page.  There were times when I felt there were too many details cluttering the narrative, such as the few paragraphs devoted to Margaret sharpening her pencils before sitting down to transcribe the stories she’d heard from Vida that day.  Yet, Setterfield has a way with words, making me feel the emotions and see the images of which she writes and bringing the eccentric and deeply troubled characters to life.  Aside from all the talk about books and reading, I wasn’t that interested in Margaret’s personal story and the family secret that has haunted her since childhood.  I just didn’t buy the depth of emotion she felt.  I almost wish that Vida’s story was the only story told, but I understand the purpose Margaret served in tying up some of the loose ends in Vida’s tale.

The Thirteenth Tale is somewhat of a gothic novel, with the creepy characters, a house that seems unwilling to let go of its inhabitants, and even some ghosts.  Jane Eyre is mentioned frequently, and even though I missed many of the parallels between this novel and Charlotte Brontë’s while I was reading, in hindsight they aren’t too hard to pick out.  I also didn’t figure out all of the twists beforehand, and wanting to solve the mystery of who Vida Winter was before she became a famous writer made me not want to put the book down. A passion for stories and whether the truth is best made known are central to The Thirteenth Tale, and readers will find that they won’t easily forget the unique, well drawn, and complex characters created by Setterfield.

Disclosure: The Thirteenth Tale is from my personal library.

© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.

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