Anna's Book Club Chat #2

Thanks once again to Sarah for taking notes for Adiek84:

> The chat was moved from tinychat to ustream due to technical difficulties.
> Anna picked this book because I really love books that are able to give me a chance to have an experience that I could not have
> Responses are generally positive towards the book, though it took a while to get into it, it was a good book
> Anna was hoping to have a little more time between meeting wold let everyone have a chance to get and read it. She thanks those who still joined the chat regardless.
> Chat started to lag a little bit but overrall it was good.
> Anna thought she could imagine how it would be like to be a person like Melody, until she read the book.
> The difficulty would be more with the physical stuff Anna summed originally
> When her friend shattered her leg, Anna then realised how the world wasn’t built for wheelchairs but what she wasn’t prepared for what the emotional counterpart
> The conversation gets diverted to people in Melody’s life that didn’t treat her different i.e. Mrs V. Claire her parents and Rose to a certain degree
> The conversation gets diverted to the character of Rose’s and her actions at the end of the book. Both sides presents valid reasons to why Rose did/did not do it. Another question is posed if it would have been done if it was a teenager doing it.
> Anna wished that we got more insight into Rose’s life i.e. what in her life made her brace enough to initially give Melody a chance and what held her back
> We talking about disabled and handicapped programs.
> User NisrinZiani makes a great point about sometimes their potential is higher than ours.
> The conversation gets diverted to the topic of Mr D’s actions and words. ” Mr D was a ” Direct quote from Anna.

> While Anna remains silent the people in the chat talk about how strong Melody’s mother is to deal with a handicapped child along with another small child on the scene.

> Anna wanted to talk about how well the book is written because she thinks it takes a great writer to really put you in the mind of a character especially one that first glance can look unrelatable.

> Anna speaks to Miss Mushrooms, it did take a while to get going not like the last book club book, but that was more typical with a character driven novels verses plot driven.

>Anna was suddenly hyper aware that she didn’t have one clue about much any person knows, doesn’t know, thinks of feels based on their outward appearance and that it goes for all people.

> Anna also notes that when someone smiles, we don’t know if they are really happy. Melody can’t give us many clues as to what she is feeling or thinking without the help of her computer but how much doe we really know about anyone’s inner thoughts and feelings. Unless we are really open to talk to them and get to know them.

> Anna also notes that it’s not only about a girl with physical disabilities, it’s really about all of us. It’s about the need for the human experience of friendship and love, of connecting with each other on another level.

> Anna agrees with user adiek84 about her statement about books are always about all of us, one way or another.

> Anna felt that the more that author reminded us of our similarities to Melody the more her differences disappeared.

> Anna poses a question for the book club participants, of how many of us felt elated when Melody was about to finally tell her mum and dad that she loved them? Or even felt heartbroken that she was left out of the competition?

> Anna admits to crying several times in the book – she had to actually take a break from the book after Melody said I love you. She needed a day or two to just that be before moving forward.

> Anna reveals that her high school was very separated from the disabled kids – also that her best friend teaches at an awesome school that doesn’t have separated classes.

> The topic gets diverted to the topic of inclusion programs in different countries and experiences are exchanged.

> One thing Anna found interesting is what she liked about the book – Melody’s growth in character.

> Anna wants to make sure we all had our thoughts put forward before we start talking about the next book.

> Anna thanks everyone for reading the book with her, as she said, it’s given her a deeper perspective and thinks it is a good one for everyone to read.

> Anna was noting down our ideas for the next book. She is going to make a poll and post links to summaries on her blog.

> The cover page of Anna’s is now available to view on Goodreads.com

> We chatted about  various things including cake, Tim Tams and various other things to end the chat.

> Anna had to leave probably due to us talking about food and she too was hungry – She thanked us all for coming.