"Poor Things" by Alasdair Gray

Hello, everyone. In July, the Kyoto Book Club's selection is the novel "Poor Things" by Alasdair Gray.

【Overview】
Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer (1992) is a novel written by Scottish author Alasdair Gray. The novel explores issues of Scottish national identity in the 19th and 20th centuries, Victorian gender roles, and scientific progress. Poor Things is a postmodernist pastiche of Gothic literature that functions in part as a retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). It is told from multiple perspectives, and its narrators each approach the story with their own biases. The novel won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. In 2023, it was adapted into a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

【About the Author】
Alasdair Gray (1934-2019) was a Scottish novelist, playwright, and artist and is regarded as the father figure of the Scottish Renaissance. As a post-modernist, Gray’s written works combine elements of realism, fantasy and science fiction supported by his own illustrations and typography. His books have been published internationally and translated into Italian, Russian, and Japanese. His awards include the Whitbread Fiction Prize, Guardian Fiction Prize, and Saltire Society Life Time Achievement Award.

Note: The book club meeting prior to this one is "The Housekeeper and the Professor" by Yoko Ogawa.

【Details】
Online Meetup
The Kyoto Book Club will be held on Sunday, July 21st, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Japan time).Whether you have a Skype account or not, you can join by clicking the URL provided on the right side.

【What we're gonna do】
Read the book before the meetup if you can (not necessary, but it's better to avoid spoilers!). Then, hop online and join us to discuss your thoughts while enjoying some food and drinks.
The book is around 337 pages long. If you go for the digital version on Kindle, it's priced at ＄9.04 or ￥1398.

【Important to know】
No entrance fee, no membership fees.