The REEL Book Club: Labor Day by Joyce Maynard Book Discussion

Hi everyone! Welcome to The REEL Book Club Labor Day Discussion.

You might recall that we did a couple post back in November for The Book Thief but we didn't have an official name for our book club yet. And now as you can see above, we are called The REEL Book Club. Do you get it? Reel for movie reel, since we are still going to be discussing books turned into movies. 

This meet up was all about LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard. 

Labor Day written by Joyce Maynard was originally printed back in 2009. The movie-tie edition was released December 3rd 2013 from William Morrow Paperbacks. See below each cover. 

So on Sunday, January 26th we all met at my house once again to discuss the book and what we expect in the upcoming film.

Pictured here from left to right: Yara (Me), Jessica, Jennifer, Rachel, Heather, Dustie, Stephanie, Mary Alice, Trudy and Sheila D..

Pictured here from left to right: Sheila M., Jennifer (bottom), Jessica (top), Rachel, Heather, Dustie, Stephanie, Mary Alice, Trudy and Sheila D.

DISCUSSION:

How do you think the events of that Labor Day weekend change Henry? How might his life have gone if Frank had not shown up?

• Rachel: She said that Henry would have become a recluse in her opinion.
• Dustie: says it was for Henry's best which helped tremendously with his self-esteem.
• Heather: Learning to bake the pie changed his life for the best.
• Sheila M.: She felt that he learned to get along better with men and women because of that Labor Day weekend. 

Scenes we want to see in the film.

• Yara: I would like to see the part where Frank and Henry go outside and Frank teaches him how to play baseball. It's a very happy part for me in the book I'd like to see on the screen.
• Jennifer: Wants to see the pie making scene and when Frank approaches Henry in the store when they meet for the first time.
• Shelia D.: Would like to see when Henry tells Eleanor off.
• Trudy: The 2 scenes she would like to see are the pie making and store meet up also.
• Dustie: Wants to see when Frank shows Henry how to play baseball, it's the scene she considered the happiest in the book.
• Heather: Wants to see when they first meet in the store and when they go to capture Frank.

Reaction to movie trailers.

• Everyone as a group agrees the trailer looks like it will be more interesting and "normal" than the book.
• Kate Winslet actually looks terrified when she meets Frank "Vinny" at the store as opposed to how it's described in the book. 
• We did catch that Henry narrates as a grown man in the movie trailer. When we read the book, we felt as a whole that it was a child narrating the story. Main reason was the missing quotations and just certain areas that grossed us out as moms (lol). 
• The movie trailer looks as if the film is going to be romantic since we felt the book lacked romance for us. 

HOPES.

• Believable, emotional, romantic.

Random.

• The movie trailer helped a few of us read and finish the book.
• Stephanie: Says it wasn't the most comfortable scenes to read in a book but she has read worst before.
• Sheila M.: Says she feels the author wrote this book to show the story as "fated" to the reader. 
• Group hopes that the movie is less detailed in certain scenes that in the book that were a bit uncomfortable to read. (Out of all of us, I had the hardest time getting through the book - Yara)
• It was disturbing for most of us with sons to know how interested Henry was to listen to his mother have sexual relations with Frank. 
• Sheila M: She could not handle the constant turmoil in the book. 

So that concludes are first meeting for Labor Day. Next we will go as a group and see the film then discuss our reactions after watching the movie. Labor Day was definitely a good book to have as part of a book club. There were moments of heated discussion regarding Henry and our own boys. It's definitely a book that moms of boys might be uncomfortable to read. But we do recommend that you do. 

Have you read Labor Day? What do you thins about what we mention in this post regarding the book and upcoming movie? What are you looking forward to seeing in the movie? Let us know in the comments. 

LABOR DAY - in theaters January 31st 2014.

“Labor Day” centers on 13-year-old Henry Wheeler, who struggles to be the man of his house and care for his reclusive mother Adele while confronting all the pangs of adolescence. On a back-to-school shopping trip, Henry and his mother encounter Frank Chambers, a man both intimidating and clearly in need of help, who convinces them to take him into their home and later is revealed to be an escaped convict. The events of this long Labor Day weekend will shape them for the rest of their lives.

Starring: Kate Winslet as Adele, Josh Brolin as Frank, Gattlin Griffith as young Henry and Tobey Maguire as adult Henry. 

Directed by Jason Reitman

Order your copy of Joyce Maynard's Labor Day today. 

Teaser Tuesday: Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading

     What I wanted to ask is, if you think she'd give me a ride. I'd be careful not to get blood on your seat. If you could take me someplace. She looks like the type of person who would help me, he said. 
      It may or may not have been a good thing about my mother that this was true.

Labor Day

Author: Joyce Maynard

Released: December 3rd 2013 (Movie-Tie Edition)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry—lonely, friendless, not too good at sports—spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele—a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others—especially those we love—above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy—and the man he later becomes—looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single long, hot, life-altering weekend.

Labor Day will hit theaters January 31st 2014.