Let's Read State of the Union

Brett: Right now, we're both reading State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy.
Babsi: Yep. But we haven't finished it yet.
Brett: We haven't finished yet.
Babsi: I'm about half way.
Brett: I'm on page 32.
Babsi: Why did you start reading it?
Brett: Because we decided to read the same book, so we could talk about it on the blog.
Babsi: So what's your impression so far?



Brett: I like it. So far it's just been one character talking about their life, what's she called?
Babsi: Hanna.
Brett: Yeah, that's right, Hanna. And it's really interesting. It's set in a period I really like, that revolutionary Vietnam war period.
Babsi: Me too. I like that period too, and there are not that many books around. It's hard to get cool books about it.
Brett: It was you who chose this book, why did you chose it?
Babsi: I liked the cover. It's a seaside sort of cover and she looks interesting and sort of thoughtful. It's a really good cover. And I did read the back and it did talk about the 70s but it's not just set in the 70s. Half the book is set in the 70s and describes her situation then, which is really quite modern because she marries this doctor dude.
Brett: Ah, Doctor Dan, I've already met Doctor Dan. She falls in love with him almost straight away.
Babsi: All these Doctor Dans should be avoided.
Brett: What, like the Doctor Dan in Return to Eden, your favourite show?
Babsi: It's not my favourite show, and it's not going into the top ten.
Brett: We just watched twenty episodes on DVD and that was just one of the disks.
Babsi: I didn't want to go to Sydney after seeing it on that. I thought I wouldn't be able to take it.
Brett: I liked the Doctor Dan on that show. He kept turning up at just the wrong moment and thinking his wife was having an affair.
Babsi: Which she was, but anyway that's not important.
Brett: And he would turn his back just as she threw the cad off. So what about the Doctor Dan in this book?
Babsi: Oh he's just an ordinary character. He's all right. He's just a doctor kind of character.
Brett: She seems to want to build an ordinary life, not a student radical kind of life.
Babsi: I think she wants to rebel against her parents. Her parents are really into the hippy thing. Her mum is an artist. A really interesting New York artist. Her dad is this really famous revolutionary dude that everyone is really keen on.
Brett: And apparently these figures really existed back then. You could become really famous by leading the take over of a University Campus and giving talks, like anti Vietnam War talks.
Babsi: Yeah, there's a lot about that in the first half of the book, and then something happens that's quite cool. It's written almost like a movie. There is this stuff going on and you're like OK.
Brett: Don't spoil it for me. I'm only on page 32.
Babsi: Well she meets someone and something happens. Something interesting, and after that we come to a time after she's had her kid. And I think she lives in a different place, in a nowhere corner of Main. She's forced to break the law, even though she's a totally law abiding person. She's forced to break the law in an interesting way. And then...
Brett: Yes, she's totally square.
Babsi: Yeah, but she's nice, it's really unfair to say she's square.
Brett: Even in these few pages I've read about her life, she made it really interesting. And you think I could live like that.
Babsi: Well I wouldn't.
Brett: Yeah, it would be too much work. I mean she buys a house, does the floorboards and strips the furniture.
Babsi: Oh yeah that's tricky, you'd never do that. OK that bit is all very interesting. The part that I've been reading, so far is astonishing. And the characters are really interesting. Like she has a friend Margy, and she's really cool. She wants her to go to Paris, but Hanna doesn't go while she's still a student. She wants to go to Paris but she's afraid she'll lose the Doctor Dan dude, and so she doesn't go to Paris.
Brett: So she would have been a student, it's not just a holiday we're talking about.
Babsi: She was worried about her relationship.
Brett: Well she would have ended up in a different relationship, that's what happens.
Babsi: I was really worried. I thought, “Oh dear, she hasn't gone to Paris, this is going to be a bit boring now.”
Brett: So you were rooting for the Paris option.
Babsi: Yeah totally, I thought that would be good. I thought, “Oh dear, that's so lame.” But it isn't, because of what happens. It's really interesting, and it's a real page turner. Stuff happens that you really don't expect. And I love that in a book, they become my Bible and I carry them around everywhere, and read them wherever I am.
Brett: I'm really enjoying it already, I think I'm going to be finished it pretty soon. You better be careful that I don't overtake you and finish it before you. Because then I'll start spoiling it ....
Babsi: Nobody overtakes me honey.
Brett: Oh my. You're so competitive. Is it going to be a race to the end of the book, see who can finish it first.
Babsi: Maybe, it makes life more interesting.
Brett: OK so that's why we've chosen State of the Union, and we'll come back when we're both finished and talk about it again.
Babsi: Well yes, we'll have to.