Evening Readers
Tuesday, April 25
The Orchardist
by Amanda Coplin
“The roses you gave me kept me awake with the sound of their petals falling.” -- Jack Gilbert, an American poet, on the front page of the book
Amanda Coplin’s debut novel was a hit with the Evening Readers. All remarked positively about how the author’s beautiful writing crafted an aura of enchantment. It was as if the narrator was sitting high up in the orchard and spinning a complex fairy tale of characters that were influenced by the time and place of early 20th-century Washington state in the rural Pacific Northwest.
Readers were captivated by the how the threads of the characters and their lives were woven together as if in a dream. Exact details about how people went about the routine business of daily life were not clearly spelled out but readers didn’t care and suspended belief about how things were working out. There was a greater focus on the interior lives and motives of characters which led to the thoughtfulness of readers' interest and relaxed their critical reading. Readers commented that the characters didn’t seem real and were portrayed as if through a filter.
Conversation was centered on what ifs and how alternative outcomes could have been influenced. In the end it was decided that the story went in the direction that was preordained. Other conclusions would not have fit. Several questions were asked:
“What happened to Talmadge’s sister, Elsbeth, and could she have been related to the girls, Jane and Della?”
"What exactly was Talmadge’s heritage, could it have been Native American?”
“Why did Talmadge’s paternal feelings for Della change from passive protection to active involvement in the latter stages of her life?”
“Why didn’t Della stay in the orchard with Talmadge where she could have had a sheltered and peaceful life?”
"Could Della have found Elsbeth in her travels?”
“Why was the prison storyline necessary to the flow of the story?”
The story was not just about Della, but her story drove the discussion about relationships including that of her niece Angelene. An essential part of the story was William Talmadge’s relationship with Angelene and how it differed with that of Della’s life in the orchard. She was raised differently from Della and Jane. Her life became something beautiful out of the tragedy of the older girls. The topic of blood relationship and family bonds of unrelated individuals was noted by readers. Does blood matter, and how does it influence behavior, were other questions that remained unanswered.
The male characters were as well drawn as the females. Clee and his band of Native American horse traders fit into the fabric of the story. Everyone thought the Wrangler sidekick was a neat guy. Caroline Middey -- friend, neighbor and confidante -- was the dominant female presence in the life of Talmadge and his girls. She was as kind and generous with her talents and friendship as anyone could have been. Readers praised her highly. Michaelson was the one truly malevolent character in the story and nobody expressed sympathy or understanding for him and his horrific life.
The evening’s discussion concluded with a question about the author’s intention in writing the story. Did the author plan for the intense introspection and judgment that resulted, or was she so talented a writer that this naturally flowed from the story to the reader?
Have you read The Orchardist? What did you think of it? Please add your comments to the discussion! (In case you're new to commenting, please remember to wait a moment after clicking "publish" so that you can click on the checkbox, proving that you're not a spambot!)
