Page 39 - oct2022

October 2022 October 2022

SOCIABLE BOOKWORMS customers live locally and walk to the pool. The dance studio upstairs is home to a
number of clubs who use the facility. The Gym downstairs brings additional much
needed revenue to help finance the centres activities.
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor There have been many threats to its future in the past and all have been
Jenkins Reid withstood by strong local pressure. When the Littledown Centre was opened in
the 1980s the council looked to cut costs and Stokewood was under real threat of
It would be unfair to say that any of us found this closure. However, you get the feeling it will take more than the threat of local
book to be a page-turner and, although it did government cutbacks or the odd bomb to bring about its demise.
prompt much discussion, only 3 of our group actually
found it entertaining enough to finish reading it. This is a real success story all about people power. The pool run by BH Live for
Bournemouth Council still caters for its wide range of customers. The building still
This book is written in the style of a series of transcribed interviews. It follows the life buzzes with excitement and enjoyment. Isn’t this what any sport/ pastime/ activity
of Daisy Jones as a child, as a young woman and as a member of a highly should be all about?
successful band and explores the challenges that each stage brings.
To mark its 85 .birthday over its anniversary week in July, John and his team will be
th
While the protagonists, Billy, Daisy and Camila, inviting all their customers to come and enjoy a swim for 85p. Now what is that in
are rounded characters, whom we follow old money?
through the book, we agreed that the other
characters were fairly indistinguishable and Bob Holman
therefore far less memorable. One of the
difficulties we identified was that we didn’t
feel we could closely identify with any of the
characters, although we had some respect for
Camila due to the way she reacted to events,
providing a stable and consistent presence,
among the other more impulsive characters.
A trait that the three main female characters
of Daisy, Camila and Karen shared was that
they were true to themselves being strong in
their own convictions, even when this meant
acting against the expectation of others.
We discussed the repeated theme of
abandonment and how that shaped and
influenced the characters. Also how several
characters, while loving each other, show
jealousy and resentment of the others’
successes.
One positive impression we were left with was the passion for music, in all its
elements, that was evident in the story. However, we felt this was a story that was
not easy to follow and one with very little plot.

38 43