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Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Violet”
Content Warning: This section includes a brief mention of sexual assault and child abuse.
An older Violet is reflecting on a time in her earlier life. The narrative skips back to when Violet is 22 years old and is serving a 28-month sentence in a female correctional facility. Every Friday, the women are allowed to attend Book Club, facilitated by a retired English teacher named Harriet, who the women call “Book Lady.” The women are discussing a book called Scar Tissue about a woman who survived a traumatic childhood and became a wealthy, famous surgeon in New York. The women can’t relate to the protagonist as they find her story unrealistic. Harriet encourages them to empathize with the book’s characters and view them as “fellow creatures.” Violet admits that while they don’t always like the books, she enjoys the group discussions sparked by their reading. They also get to keep all their books, and Violet stores them under her bed like treasures.
The women prefer classic novels over contemporary ones, finding the characters more relatable. They especially appreciated Ethan Frome, seeing the protagonist as being punished by some divine force. Shayna, Desiree, and Jacynta all share that their boyfriends threw their belongings out the window. Aimee’s husband threw their child out of the window, and she was found guilty of the crime. Violet says they have an unspoken rule not to speak of the “Reasons” why they are incarcerated, but they enjoy talking about life “on the Outs,” or life outside of prison. The women appreciate how Harriet listens to them and treats them like humans. Book Club ends when the corrections officer arrives. Harriet gives them their next selection, Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger. Though some of the women have read Catcher in the Rye, Harriet says it’s “for innocents […] This one’s for people with some life behind them” (8). Violet ends the day, as she always does, haunted by her “Reason”: a 61-year-old woman named Lorraine.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Frank”
Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, is Lorraine Daigle’s husband, and since the trial after her death, his daughter, Kristy, has been concerned about him. Frank’s therapy involves his daily walks to Wadsworth Books, where he enjoys talking to the young people who work there and visiting with the stray cats they keep. After helping the clerk, Marnie, fix a damaged rolling cart, Frank becomes the shop’s handyman. Though he’s overqualified for the job, he finds the work therapeutic. Frank installs a bell on the door, not only to help keep the cats from escaping but also for himself and because he’s always looking for “her.”
Chapter 3 Summary: “Harriet”
Harriet enjoys generating discussion questions for the women that get them to think deeply. She also enjoys the women’s honest and sometimes irreverent responses to their reading experience. However, what she loves most is how “being together in a room discussing even the most unacceptable book made the prison disappear” (15). The women mostly come from small towns, most of which are poor and have high rates of substance abuse and violence.
Harriet goes to Wadsworth Books to see Tyler, who helps her make selections for Book Club. The clerk, Baker, explains that Tyler has gone to acting school. Baker offers to help Harriet, but when Baker suggests Scar Tissue, Harriet decides to search independently in her favorite section: the stacks. She bumps into Frank, who is painting, and accidentally knocks over Spoon River Anthology, a book told by dead people in a cemetery that she read in college and loved. She finds Frank handsome and is excited that the next right book for Book Club fell into her lap. Baker can’t get Harriet’s book order for over a week and suggests she use Amazon, but Harriet hates Amazon. On the way home, she begins formulating discussion questions for the book, confident that its meditations on choice and mortality will resonate with the women. They will enjoy reading it aloud, each with a distinctive voice and style. When she first started volunteering, she viewed all women similarly because of their uniforms. Now, she appreciates the opportunity to view each as an individual.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Violet”
Women often disappear from prison for various reasons. Sometimes, they are sent to solitary confinement, which Violet once endured. Sometimes, they disappear because they get out. Violet and the other women play a game called “When I Get Out First Thing I Do” (26), in which they fantasize about reuniting with loved ones, making apologies, and making up for lost time.
Violet is released from prison six months early for good behavior. It happens so fast that she forgets to collect her Book Club books from under the bed. Her sister, Vicki, takes her to an apartment in Portland, Maine. Vicki and Violet were raised in a strict religious community, and Vicki reminds Violet that Pastor Rick, whom Violet calls “a lechy old-man hypocrite” (27), is praying for her soul. On the way, Violet stops to get out and feels the ground in the lot next to the prison barefoot, soaking up the fresh air. While she was incarcerated, Violet’s mother died, and she blamed herself, thinking that the grief killed her. Violet’s mother wrote her in prison, but Vicki didn’t. Vicki has moved on with her life, gotten married, and is pregnant. Violet doesn’t know anyone in Portland, but Vicki says no one back home wants her to return. The trial was hard for the family to endure, especially seeing Lorraine’s husband, Frank, grieve the loss of his wife. Violet asserts that she never meant to kill anyone. Vicki is unsympathetic and gives Violet an envelope from their mother. She asks Violet not to call her and leaves.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Harriet”
Harriet’s niece, Sophie, came to live with her when she was 12 years old after her mother, Corinne, died, leaving her an orphan. Now, Sophie is preparing to move out to study social work at Berkeley, and Harriet begs her to consider staying and attending school closer by as she can’t bear the thought of being without Sophie, who she’s come to love as her own. Harriet works on discussion questions for Book Club for Spoon River Anthology and tries them out on Sophie since she read the book in high school.
Sophie knows Dorothy is in prison for embezzlement, and Harriet is angry with Sophie for googling the women as it violates their privacy. She intentionally knows nothing about their crimes besides what they tell her. She also avoids calling them inmates because in Book Club, they are all equals. Harriet’s daughters, Annie and Ellen, ask Sophie to investigate the Book Club women because they’re concerned about their mom’s safety. Sophie warns Harriet not to give out any personal information to prevent identity theft when they get released. Harriet assures Sophie that she is safe with the women and asks her not to research them online anymore out of respect for everyone involved. Leading Book Club has been far more gratifying than any other teaching job Harriet has had. She says, “I feel like the teacher they want” (38). Sophie agrees and goes to bed as Harriet considers the swift passing of time and the uncertainty of her future.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Violet”
Before the accident, Violet was engaged to Troy, a football player. Despite their families’ objections, they planned to get married and move to Portland to start a new life. On a road trip, Troy bought alcohol and pills, which they took. After stopping to have sex, Troy made Violet drive because he was too intoxicated. Troy never attended Violet’s trial, visited, or wrote to her in prison. Alone in Portland now, Violet struggles to understand his abandonment and feels utterly alone.
Violet opens the envelope from her mother and finds a cashier’s check for a large sum. Overwhelmed with being on the outside but also being alone, she weeps, missing her family and the friends she made in prison. She even misses her prison job. Violet doesn’t leave the apartment for days but watches hours of YouTube to catch up on everything she missed while incarcerated. None of Violet’s clothes from before fit, so she resolves to go shopping. However, the first time she tries to leave the apartment, she panics and returns inside.
She finally musters the courage after whispering their Book Club mantra, “I am a reader. I am intelligent. I have something worthy to contribute” (44). Violet buys new socks, underwear, and clothes and goes to the bank to deposit the cashier’s check and open an account. The bank teller is kind to her. Violet asks to keep the check since it reminds her of her mother, but the teller must keep it. She takes Violet’s hand and traces her mother’s signature. Violet walks through town and sees a bookstore displaying their last Book Club selection. There is a cat outside with a sign that says, “ADOPT ME,” and suddenly, Violet knows her first move on the outside.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Frank”
When Harriet enters the store, Frank is repairing the glass window, and his heart flutters. He is attracted to her and fumbles with his tools as he makes conversation. Harriet speaks to Baker about the Book Club selection, and Frank offers to help, although he doesn’t know much about books. Baker and Marnie giggle, realizing that Frank is flirting. Frank brushes off their innocent teasing and goes for it as “He [is] a grown man in his late sixties who was in no way through with living” (52). Baker suggests checking the new releases, but Frank suggests she try poetry. Harriet agrees that poetry is an excellent idea since it’s meant to be read aloud, and the Book Club members enjoy reading out loud. Frank recognizes Harriet as a schoolteacher and tells her he is a retired machinist. Harriet’s uncle was a machinist, and Frank enjoys talking to Harriet about how much he loved his previous job.
A young woman enters the shop carrying the cat and inquiring about a job, and Frank thinks she looks familiar. Harriet emerges from the poetry section and is surprised to see Violet on the outside but enthusiastically offers a reference. Suddenly, Frank recognizes Violet Powell, instantly plunged into painful memories.
Chapters 1-7 Analysis
The story begins in the confines of a prison and immediately illustrates The Effects of Incarceration. While the members of Book Club find it a welcome escape, they each bring with them into the meeting their traumas related to the circumstances that led to their incarceration. Moreover, they each mourn the loss of life on the outside in different ways. Harriet’s discussion questions allow the women to be vulnerable, yet they are guarded and careful not to reveal too much about their “Reasons.” Their inability to completely trust Harriet or one another with their stories underscores the damaging impact of incarceration. The women exhibit the stress of confinement through their lack of autonomy and isolation. Prisons lack meaningful activities, and Book Club offers them a chance to commiserate with one another. Their Book Club discussion reveals that being separated from family and friends makes them feel lonely and disconnected, which hinders their ability to maintain friendships. The unity found in Book Club gives the women a sense of camaraderie, and they begin to trust one another and themselves more.
Though they each have a unique story, Book Club puts the women on even ground, makes them feel human, and gives them a voice. In facilitating Book Club, Harriet channels The Healing Power of Books to promote community amongst women who feel less than human in their incarcerated state. Drab uniforms, poor treatment from the correctional officers, and scorn from the outside world have stripped them of their individuality. The women begin to get back in touch with themselves through their book discussions. Though each woman has a different level of education and literacy, Harriet meets them where they are and creates a safe space to explore the stories found within the books and the stories buried inside each person. Choosing the right book each month proves challenging, but Harriet finds that their enjoyment of it matters less than its ability to get them talking. Harriet uses her teacher skills to create engaging discussion questions. However, she never makes the women feel as though she is their superior. Instead, she lends a listening ear and an empathetic heart to their often passionate and irreverent responses to the reading.
As the Book Club plays a central role throughout the novel, Wood includes many literary allusions throughout the text. This section mentions multiple literary works, which represent the women’s experiences in differing ways. While reading Scar Tissue, the women initially struggle to relate to the main characters’ experiences. However, Harriet encourages them to empathize with the book’s characters, seeing them as fellow humans. Although the lived experience of Scar Tissue’s leading character differs from the experiences of the incarcerated women, Wood uses this text to represent how the women must empathize with others despite their differences. In prison, the material circumstances of confinement unite the women despite different backgrounds; however, upon release, they will interact with individuals in more privileged positions. Wood employs this allusion to demonstrate the resilience the women must possess to navigate a world where inequities exist. Harriet also instills an important lesson that one’s trauma may still affect a person despite the success they experience in other regards.
Franny and Zooey serves as another literary allusion that reflects the women’s experiences. In Salinger’s work, the titular characters navigate grief following the death of their brother, Seymour, and turn to spirituality and the search for existential meaning. With Harriet claiming that this short story collection is for people who have already experienced life’s hardships, Wood references Franny and Zooey to represent the challenges the women, including Violet face. Each woman experiences grief due to their past, exacerbated by the time they have lost while in prison and the pain they have caused to others. While the loss of a brother differs from confronting and rehabilitating from one’s past crime, this allusion functions to highlight the women’s broader search for meaning and purpose in life after hardship.
Book Club gives a voice to an eclectic group of women, but Violet’s voice takes center stage as the narrative switches between the three voices and allows Violet to share her experience. The Effects of Incarceration are particularly difficult for Violet as she is young, and the consequences of her incarceration have left her utterly alone. The details of her story come out sporadically as Violet is still visibly processing her crime—vehicular manslaughter—and the consequences it wrought on her life, the victim, and her family. Violet hates being in prison, but when she is unexpectedly released early, she finds life on “The Outs” a kind of prison in its way. Her fiancé and family have abandoned her, and she is forced to make a new start in an unfamiliar town. Alone, with no connections and a criminal record, Violet exemplifies the challenges of reintegration after incarceration. The whiplash of going from prison to freedom with no buffer in between and no support plummets Violet into a depression, and she struggles with basic daily activities like eating and personal hygiene. While in prison, Violet lost her mother, her family’s loyalty, and her sense of purpose. She takes the first step by purchasing new clothes and opening a bank account, which are steps toward reestablishing personal autonomy. Yet, the grief of Violet’s crime and the perception that she killed her mother through grief haunts her, and she must learn to forgive herself if she is going to move forward, introducing the theme of Forgiveness of Self and Others.
Frank is also in a prison of grief. Like Violet, he is alone and without a purpose. Though he isn’t a reader, The Healing Power of Books impacts him too, as he finds the bookshop needs a handyman, a job that brings him joy and personal fulfillment. Though he and the bookshop staff have a significant age gap, their banter and friendship prove enjoyable and life-giving for Frank. The bookshop doubles as a temporary home for orphan cats waiting to be adopted.
As it becomes a kind of halfway house for the lost and searching, it also becomes the scene of Frank and Harriet’s meet-cute. Harriet isn’t looking for connection, but with Sophie’s departure imminent, she senses loneliness approaching. The fate of Harriet finding just the right book punctuates their first meeting. Violet’s entrance, however, interrupts their second meeting. Like the orphan cats, Violet is drawn to the welcoming, nurturing exterior of the bookshop. Still, her appearance is traumatizing for Frank, setting up the plot’s tension as the three characters’ worlds intersect.
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