Sullington Windmills WI

This month’s read, “In Too Deep” by Lee Child, really split our group into two camps. There were those who really loved the book and those who didn’t enjoy it at all.

The book suggestion was made by one of our group members, who is a big Jack Reacher fan. It would appear that the majority of those who liked the book were already Reacher fans too.

Positive comments centred around the character of the protagonist (his unconventional lifestyle and his unfailing sense of right and wrong, no matter what), the gritty storyline, the action-packed pages and the easy-reading nature of the book.

"People leave me alone, I leave them alone. And if they don't? I don't."

On the other hand, negative comments were made regarding there being too much violence, the plot being confusing, characters having little depth and the story just not drawing you in or making you want to continue reading. 

Some frankly found the book a chore, whilst others raced through the pages in a matter of days.

Whatever people’s opinion, reading this book created an interesting discussion and some new Jack Reacher fans.

The next book to be read will be "Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons.

This will be discussed on Friday 12th December 2025.

This month’s read, ‘The Husband’s by Holly Gramazio, was not enjoyed by about 75% of the group.

It would appear that it is a novel that polarises opinion. The 75% who didn’t enjoy it really didn’t like it and the other 25% loved it.

The story follows Lauren, a thirty-something single woman living in London, whose attic starts generating an infinite supply of husbands. But when you can change husbands as easily as a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?

This is Lauren’s dilemma, which some of us found amusing, creative and thought-provoking and which the majority found monotonous, frivolous and uninspiring.

The book’s main theme is about making alternative choices in life and whether those choices change your life and in what way.

This concept has been tackled by other popular films and books in recent times, the ones that come to mind are Sliding Doors, Groundhog Day and The Midnight Library (as read by our Book Club in August 2024). The group felt that the alternatives listed above tackled the magical realism genre in a much more superior way.

We talked about the author for a small part of the meeting and discovered that Holly Gramazio is a games designer who came up with the concept for ‘The Husbands’ whilst sitting with friends “swiping left or right” on dating apps. Having read the book, this made sense to us. We could understand that this is the type of book that she would be perfect to write, it had the feel of a computer game.

Nevertheless, and even though we could all agree that it was a good first novel that had provoked an interesting Book Club discussion, there was no getting away from the fact that the majority of the group did not enjoy the book.

Send it back to the attic …

The next book to be read will be "In Too Deep" by Lee Child.

This will be discussed on Friday 14th November 2025.