“The Giver of Stars” is a poem by Amy Lowell, while the novel’s same title is used symbolically for obliquely expressing one’s love. Likened to the splendor yet short-lived excitement of fireflies, the title can also imply the infinite enlightenment of books being like stars. This novel is mainly about the lives of several women who became “Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky” during the Great Depression. These women, a composite of lives truly lived, demonstrated immense courage while navigating impossible weather, family feuds, and rugged, uncharted rural paths in order to deliver books with the goal of decreasing illiteracy in Appalachia.
One reader would have preferred to have a map of the routes in Kentucky, even if fictitious, while another purposely did not join this group discussion because of the book’s similarities to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson, published earlier in the same year. A short-lived plagiarism charge arose, although nothing came of the accusations.
Moyes’s novel is not only a love story between couples but about the love of friends, camaraderie, books, self-education, freedom, animals, and the land. It inspired at least three of us to research Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) Program to learn more about these amazing librarians. One such researcher found the depiction of poverty representative of the time and area, although “not horrific enough.” We were all pleased to learn there’s a PBS documentary titled “The Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia.”
Beth Buechler
Community Contributor
The Jewish Federation Book Club meets via Zoom at 4:00 PM. Unless otherwise scheduled, we meet every second Thursday of the month.
Upcoming Books:
April 11 - Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
May 9 - Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim
June 13 - Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson
July 11 - The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks-Dalton