Discussion Review of "Quentins" by Maeve Binchy

     On March 25 we met to discuss the book Quentins. There were 6 of us at this meeting. After enjoying a meal of delicious soup and real Irish bread, a glass of wine and some "fresh out of the oven"scones, we started our discussion.
     General impressions varied. Some enjoyed the book and thought it was a fun read, others were not at all impressed and read it quickly, happy to put it aside. We only tackled about half of the discussion questions, and here are some of the thoughts of this book:
*Though interesting, the various characters and their stories, all in one book, is a little confusing. Binchy often pulled in characters of other books (eg Evening Class, Scarlett Feathers and Tara Road) which many of us had not read. I think you need to be a real Binchy fan to really appreciate this novel.
*The main character Ella was a rather immoral woman, jumping into a adulterous relationship without much thought of consequence, and reaps her rewards when the gentleman she loves turns out to be a fraud and mentally unstable, to say the least. The effect of her affair is far reaching and her loving parents are caught in the web of deceit. Makes you angry with Ella for her foolishness.....
*Some of the book characters were spoken of fondly - Blouse was one of the favourites and Patrick and Brenda's struggle with infertility was touching and drew our sympathy.

*The ending of the books was plain nonsense, as a birth occurs in the storeroom and every one falls in love and lives happily ever after......

The conclusion was that though this book was entertaining for some, it was a "fluff" book for others, and not much good could be reaped from it. After the fifth question, we laid the book aside and embarked on a completely unrelated discussion which will not be posted, as it was not related to
any novel.....:)