Literary Award Winners Fiction Book Club discussion

Please comment here on 'The Elected Member' by Bernice Rubens.
(1970 Booker Prize winner). (Her book 'A Five Year Sentence' was shortlisted for the 1978 Booker Prize)

I finished and absolutely loved this book. The sensitivity, the compassion, the insight into the family dynamics, the pain of addiction and psychosis, the slow unfolding of the back story, there was not a false note in this novel. Thank you for introducing me to this author. I now want to read everything she has written.

Great to read that you really enjoyed this book Irene. I am just over half way and am also finding it a very good read. So far I am finding it a very character based novel and find the characterisation of Rabbi Zweck particularly well described.

I felt as if I knew each of them: Norm, Bella, Rabbi Zweck. Even the minor characters: the Minister, Esther, Sarah, who is dead before the book begins, all felt as if I knew and understood them. Plus, I understood the family dynamics. I loved how the family history is revealed little by little. I never felt as if the author was manipulating me as a reader, holding things back, but rather, it all came out organically. And, she accomplishes all of this in so few pages.

Yes, I agree, the author realistically and sympathetically describes how the Zweck family struggles to cope with modern life and religious traditions and Norman's mental health.

The novel is a very well written, sad, sympathetic, character based novel. I liked how during the first half of the book the characters are all well developed and it is during the later parts of the book that the details of the tragic event unfold.

A worthy 1970 Booker Prize Winner. I intend to read more Bernice Rubens novels.

Is this your first time reading Rubens? It is my first exposure. I see a later novel of hers was short listed for the Booker. I also want to read more of her. Thank you for picking this book for our December read.

No, I had not read any other Bernice Rubens novels. She has written 25! I am currently half way through ‘A Five Year Sentence’ (shortlisted for the 1978 Booker Prize). It’s 186 pages. It is a very different read to ‘The Elected Member’. There are only two characters, both in their 60s and retired. Both are very lonely with no friends. The man is looking after his incontinent old mother whom he has always lived with. The woman has just retired from work and has decided to make things happen. She had never been to a pub to drink nor gone out with a man. The characters are very well developed and quirky things happen. I have a couple of Bernice Rubens other books on my bookshelf and they are also short books. Birds of Passage (214 pages) and Mr Wakefield’s Crusade (190 pages).

I read 'A Five Year Sentence' and 'Mr Wakefield's Crusade' this moth and enjoyed both books. I gave both books 4 stars. Good plot momentum and interesting characters. I will read 'Birds of Passage' and be on the lookout for her other novels as I enjoy the way she writes. She tackles various issues such as loneliness, relationships and life in general in an easy to read, concise style. Bernice Rubens writes with wit and is at the same time, sensitive to her characters.