GGC Book Club for Adults
Welcome to She Said/She Said, where GGC Members are our book reviewers from across Canada sharing their opinions about the book of the month.
This month we take a look at The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler, published by Harper Collins Canada.
She Said: Melissa Gartner
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
The Imposter Bride
The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler is a phenomenal book. I had picked it up one day with the intention of reading one or two chapters – nearly seven hours later I finished reading the entire novel. The first chapter grabbed my attention so well that I had to know more about the characters and wanted to unfold more of the plot. Speaking of the plot, this novel is set in post-war Montreal and centers around two main characters – Lily Azerov Kramer, a young woman who flees Poland to marry a Canadian man she has never met, and Ruth Kramer, the daughter Lily abandons and whose natural curiosity leads her to seek a greater understanding of her estranged mother.
The author, Nancy Richler, was born in Montreal and now lives in Vancouver. Her other novels include Your Mouth is Lovely and Throwaway Angels.
The Imposter Bride meets all of Girl Guides of Canada’s novel selection criteria – the author is a Canadian female and the main characters are women. Program topics, such as healthy relationships and international issues, are addressed as the plot evolves.
I believe that this novel is suitable for adults over the age of 18. There is very little profanity, sexual content and mature themes. However, I believe that the overall historic atmosphere of post-war Canada would be better understood by adult readers.
By Guider Melissa Gartner,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
She Said: Guider Jenn Boutilier
Alberta
It took me awhile to get into the book to be quite honest. I don’t think it was because it wasn’t holding my interest, but because it was and I was going through a rough stage in my life and it was hard to read it at the time.
I can relate to the main character, Ruth – who is unnamed for the majority of the book – in such a way that when we meet her as the narrator, she doesn’t know who or where her mother is. All that she knows is that her mother seems to be getting further and further away from her; evidence gleaned from rocks the mother continues to send her daughter.
Every time I would read the book, I would get a little overwhelmed with not really knowing my own mother. Once I really got into the book, it was really hard to put down. I wanted to find out if the narrator ever gets to meet her mother, and what it would be like once it happened.
Ruth finally gives up waiting for her mom to return, and sets out on a quest to find her. All she knows are the different places her mother has been from her rock collection. Ruth finally gets curious and though the rest of her family isn’t behind her, she starts searching for her mother. A mystery journal that Ruth has always wondered about peaks her interest, and her father finally reveals that her mother isn’t actually who Ruth thought she was. From this stems some anger and resentment towards her family because no one has ever told her all the family secrets.
This resembles the girls that we mentor in a lot of ways. We can be one person in front of our girls or to our own families, and be someone completely different in our own work lives. In order to actually empower our girls and make them strong and confident women, we need to be the same person towards them as we are towards our own jobs.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope that you do as well!
By Jenn Boutilier. Jenn volunteers with her local Brownie Unit and enjoys spending time with her sister and friends. Enjoying life and loving every minute of life!
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Love our blog? Be a book reviewer for our GirlGuidesCANblog Harper Collins Canada adult book club! Our book club is growing and we need more book reviewers for the 2012/2013 Guiding year! Adult members can send in their “Why I should be a book reviewer” submission from June 22 – July 6, 2012 in order to be considered. The submission should be a mini book review, 2-3 sentences long, about one of these books 
- Safe Guide
- Guiding Essentials
- Your favourite (non-Guiding) book
- Any Dr. Seuss book
We’ll select the best reviews and notify the new reviewers by mid-summer. All book reviews will be posted on GirlGuidesCANblog, and who knows! We might even have a live author discussion too! Note: The reviewers will be encouraged (but not required) to sign on to GoodReads, the largest online site for readers and book recommendations in the world, to connect with us and with any of our Members interested in what others are reading! Help us grow our book club! Email submissions to marketing1(@)girlguides.ca with book reviewer in the subject line.