Our July Ink & Drink book club choice was Lori & Joe, the highly anticipated second novel from the Goldsmiths-shortlisted author and winner of the 2018 Northern Book Prize Amy Arnold.
Lori and Joe have lived in the Lake District for many years, in a quiet valley where one day is much like another. Bringing Joe his regular cup of coffee one morning, Lori finds him dead. She could call an ambulance, but what difference would it make? Instead, she heads out for a walk over the fells.
As she makes her way through the November fog, Lori’s thoughts slip between past and present, revealing a marriage marked by isolation, childlessness and a terrible secret she’s never disclosed.
Taking place over the course of a single day, yet recounting a discordant relationship of many decades, Lori & Joe is an intimate and compelling story of entrapment and loneliness, and of a life in which desire is continually overcome by inertia: nothing changes and nothing is ever (re)solved.
Let us help you discover the novel with our Ink & Drink questions:
The novel has been described as a 'compelling internal monologue on life and loss'. How did you perceive Lori's grief? How was this grief expressed in her thoughts?
The stream-of-consciousness narrative in the novel is unique and provides a very different reading experience. Did you like this style? If not, why not?
How do you think the novel's setting reflects and interacts with the themes of the novel? What about the weather?
What did you make of Joe as a character, or at least of Lori's perception of him?
What did you make of Lori as a character? How do you think having access to her entire thought process affected our reading experience and opinion of her?
What did you think of how the children from next door were characterised?
How was music explored in the novel? What effect did music have on Lori and Joe?
How was the idea of the physical body explored in the novel, for example Lori's frequent references to how many dead bodies she has seen? What did these frequent allusions make you think or expect from the story?
How was food described and used in the novel and for what purpose?
What do you think the shooting of the crow symbolises?
We'll be back with our next book club pick & more questions in September!