Book Club Meeting #2

For our second meeting, we discussed chapters 7-11. A majority of our conversation included our opinions and ideas on the different elements in each of the five chapters. We agreed that most of the chapters continued on in much of the same fashion as the first six: Duke providing a different life lesson for Jimmy and Kevin. However, there was a point during these chapters that Duke took Jimmy out in his car, and provided him with additional advice. I liked that Myers took a different route in this chapter. It grabbed my attention as it deviated from the previous chapters, but still provided the integral messages on life that are central to the plot. We then discussed how we could relate to Jimmy in different ways. Julie mentioned that she felt she was not a reader, much like Jimmy, but still understood its importance. Andrea, Jessica, Sasha, and I also related our similar and differing feelings. Personally, I feel that I would relate more to Jimmy if I were younger. However, I found the advice that Duke provided in these chapters very enlightening and relevant to my life. We also touched on the importance of different characters. In particular, we noted that while the mother made some appearances in the story, she did not seem to be an essential character. Conversely, we thought that Cap, Dukes friend, played an important role in Jimmy's life. It was interesting to see how the roles of "friend" and "mother" were stressed differently. Overall, we found the book was progressing well, as were the characters. It has thus maintained our interests, albeit being a bit of an easy-read. We have decided to read the next five chapters for our third meeting.