Read the Book: Before Breakfast

Jack introduces us to this weeks story as part of the Tales from the Library Book Club, 'Before Breakfast' by Willa Cather. 

This week in the book club we will be reading the short story 'Before Breakfast' by Willa Cather. Written not long before her death this was one of Willa Cathers last three posthumously published works, it is filled with the careful touch and wisdom of an older and wiser writer than some of her earlier youthful works. It’s a tight nugget of a story about a successful middle-aged businessman 'Henry Grenfell' who escapes his work and family for a solo summer vacation at his island cottage.

The story reflects not only on the nature of aging and our own mortality, but - rather ahead of its time - critiques a fragile masculinity in the form of Henry Grenfell, a man who is cold and robotic in his pursuit of 'success' and is emotionally distant from his feelings and family, so much so that he resorts to big game shooting to cure his fear of being perceived as 'weak'.

What did you make of this story? 

Join us in the Book Club this Thursday at 3PM: Tales from the Library - Before Breakfast