Present were Carla, Colette, Janet, Linda, Marg, Michèle and Shirley. We met at Shirley's home and she served wonderful asian inspired hors d'oeuvres, wine of course, coffee & tea and her famous Pots de crème citronée and you can find the recipe at the bottom of the October 2012 post.
Dorothy Baker was born in 1907 in Montana and the family then moved to California. After completing her studies French at UCLA she went to France and met the poet Howard Baker. They were married in 1930 and moved to California. She published her first novel. Young Man With a Horn in 1938. It was very successful and was made into a movie in 1950 with Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. She wrote 6 novels and some plays with her husband. She died in 1968.
Cassandra at te Wedding was her 5th novel published in 1962. Cassandra and Judith are identical twins who have always lived together and done everything together u to 9 months prior when Judith, a pianist, goes off to Julliard to study music. It becomes evident that Cassandra finds it very difficult living without her sister and even more when her sister meets a nice young man in New York and invites Cassandra to meet them at their father's ranch to celebrate their wedding. The book is written mainly in the narrative, firstly as Cassandra drives from California to their father's ranch, in dialogue between Cassandra and Judith and then Judith's thoughts.
This is definitely not a book that was well liked by the majority of our members. Most disliked Cassandra finding her self absorbed, neurotic and narcissistic. Most were relieved when the narrative switched to Judith. None of us were surprised that Cassandra's dress choice in white would be the identical to Judith's wedding dress. Those who enjoyed the book thought the characters were well developed, that the relationship between Cassandra and Judith was well described. The drama of Cassandra's sleeping pill incident was tense and profound. There is a strong suggestion of lesbianism when Cassandra's therapist arrives and takes over Cassandra's care.
Suffice to say that this book will not win the "best book read o 2022" from this Bookclub!
