BookTalk introduces readers to a carefully chosen, provocative selection of novels for reading and informal discussion, considering the author’s writing techniques and the character’s personal journeys. Readings include translations of books from other countries and cultures in the search for fictions that illuminate the lives and understanding of those from all across the globe.
This class focuses on Easter Island (2003), a historical novel by Jennifer Vanderbes. Set in both 1913 and sometime near the end of the twentieth century, it follows two women, one from each time period, who travel to Easter Island with different prospects. The first, Elsa Pendleton from England, comes along with her husband, an anthropologist, and her mentally disabled sister. The latter is Greer Farraday, a botanist from the United States, who travels to Easter Island on research after her husband dies. When Elsa arrives on the island, her husband begins studying the giant stone Moai that ring the shoreline, while she studies ancient hieroglyphics engraved on tablets called rongorongo. Delving into research to redeem her reputation, having learned that her late husband plagiarized her work, Greer’s project almost a century later mirrors Elsa’s. The novel utilizes atmosphere and narrative ambiguity to offer different interpretive possibilities, refusing to resolve, clarify, or reduce its complexities and gaps in understanding.
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