@mary13 good discovery about Cohen’s influences, and great Roald Dahl’s quote,
Interesting I don’t think Cohen listed any of those author’s when Olive, was being grateful for certain authors,
Page 418 more important, she wanted to thank Pratt Public Library.
Thank you. Charles Dickens and Stephen King, Willa Cather and Mary Shelley. A big thank you to historical biographers, particularly Robert Caro. …all the writers of children’s books, even the brothers Grimm, who were morbid pair, but vivid…
I thought those were the strangest list of authors.
Robert Caro of LBJ biography fame ? Huh ?
And in the filching department…I was afraid that Oriana “borrowing” one coin out of the bag was somehow going to throw the project into chaos – that doing an ethically questionable thing would affect the results. Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. (That coin was from the Francine/Ginger drop, I believe.)
@ignatius yes, yes, yes I distinctly remember that meeting now, and she was suspicious. I knew you recently read the book for a second time, and you never miss much anyway, that’s it, she had figured it out, foxy lady, not a witch, after all of course,
Also, didn’t Amanda admire Harry’s hunky new physique, and his Quaker pacifism? When he didn’t strike back against Stu, I can’t recall, but I think she admired it? Not sure, I know you, ignatius would know,
Oops - I sent a reply to @AnAsmom and I meant to respond to @jerseysouthmomchess Anyway, it looks like it got to the right places anyway. I’m still figuring it all out.
So I went back to reread the chapter where Harry attempts suicide. I wondered if there was anyway Olive was there. I don’t think she was, but I think she may well have found the noose later - I think she spends a lot of time at that wall thinking about her old fiance.
I had forgotten that Wolf had taught Harry to make a noose and that he keeps hearing Wolf egg him on. That contrasts with the glint of gold/Snickers bars representing Beth calling him back and then just for extra weirdness there’s the hawk. And finally Oliana and Amanda arrive arguing about magic.
I think Cohen has done what he set out to do - everything can have a plausible explanation, but he does like to pile on the coincidences making everything seem magical.
We don’t get a back story for Stu. Wolf would be really awful if we didn’t know about his childhood. Cliff seemed more like a plot device - he needs to help get the gold to Amanda - than a real person. But I was willing to believe that he wanted to hold on to the magic of having Amanda, even if only briefly, and be dumb enough to think he could share with Hoop.
Me three on that list of authors. The NYPL recently put Robert Caro’s (very long) biography of Robert Moses on a list of best books about/set in NYC. I don’t like King, but it’s more the genre than the writing. I hated My Antonia in high school so I’ve never read any other Cather. I’ve always meant to read Frankenstein, but never have. I’ve read a lot of Grimm though - have a giant volume in German to boot!
Somewhere in all these posts ignatius reminds us that when Olive met Harry the first time, at the tree, she looks around suspiciously at the broken limb, she realizes he is heartbroken and figures it out then. Sorry @mathmom I don’t know where that is in the book, but after she mentions it I remembered.
I was a bit daunted by the thickness of this book, but as others have said it was an easy and happy read. I read it in under 48 hours.
The story did transport me back to my childhood when I climbed trees regularly—mango and plumeria primarily, because they were the tallest trees on our property, shading our house and carport. I’d often spend hours up the tree, alone. It was a nice quiet place to just sit (in a family of 9–6 brothers & sisters & my folks).
Libraries and librarians have always been magical in our life, and our kids lives. Our D said “we can go to faraway places in books.” Our kids are lifelong avid readers.
I would also love to tour or view the lovely treehouse.
The randomness of handing out the gold was very important to Oriana. It did seem that there were many in these low income communities who could greatly benefit from a little financial help. I’m glad that Amanda and Olive got some gold, as they seemed very deserving.
Other than the coincidences of the exact dates of death, I agree that many if the things in this story could have happened.
I dated a guy who originally wanted a PhD in ecology (of course loved trees and we did a lot of fieldwork together), but ultimately chose to end with a master’s in ecology because of low pay and more bureaucracy than he was interested in. That said, the only times I’ve climbed trees as an adult was to harvest fruit—avocado and mango.
I do love our US and Canadian National Parks and am awed by the majesty of ancient and tall trees. I’m happy my kids also love trees and national parks. Our grad trip after S finished college was catching the train from LA to Seattle and then driving and staying at national and state parks all along the way back to LA.
I was pretty sure Jon Cohen had done his research on spinning straw (aka an electronic deposit) into gold, but I looked it up anyway – “How to buy gold” (my search history is always entertaining during book club month):
Also, who knew:
Gold-to-Go ATMs are available if you wish to buy gold bars in cities such as New York, Las Vegas, and Dubai.
If one wanted to make it as easy for recipients as possible, maybe a few gold coins on top of crisp currency. Currency has the advantage of being easier to use and not incurring fees to change the asset from cash to gold and back. Each time it is changed, I’m sure there are fees and then storage charges etc. All of these fees would add up, especially in dealing with significant sums.
Yes, that would have been smart. Per the bank rate article, the recipients might not get all they hoped:
It can be difficult to receive the full market value for your [gold] holdings, especially if they’re coins and you need the money quickly. So you may have to settle for selling your holdings for much less than they might otherwise command on a national market.
Of course, all that was immaterial to Harry. He wasn’t out to maximize gain for his recipients; he only wanted to unload his money in the most random way possible.
Getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash would have been problematic. The banks report those transactions to the Feds, to avoid money laundering and so forth.
Harry had a clear trail as to where the funds came from—his attorney. Hopefully, enough was withheld so he didn’t run afoul of the irs. If the attorneys were smart (as they should have been), and made it all for Harry’s pain and suffering it could avoid income tax. Anyway gold was more exciting to Ariana. It all worked for her and Harry’s immediate short term quick needs.
@jerseysouthmomchess
Thanks for that Public Libraries interview. It did give me a better appreciation for Olive, particularly when Cohen describes his mother/librarian reading “In her throne-like chair, surrounded by her subjects.” In the interview, he also talks about liking over-the-top character details. For me, he gave Olive a few too many of those to make her believable. But I did like the kind way she befriended Ronnie.
Thanks also for the photos of the real life places that inspired the book–that was fascinating, especially the real Pratt Library!
And thanks @Mary13 for the info on buying gold. Harry’s adventure made me want to buy some! I think I would go with a Saint-Gaudens coin. Although using a Gold-to-Go ATM sounds tempting, too. If I had the money. I love that it’s now in your search history (and mine!). I wonder what Google ads will show up for us as a result?
@buenavista, you’re in luck: The $20 Saint-Gaudens coin is in stock at JM Bullion for a mere $2,006.05.
I looked up why there is even a face value on bullion coins and learned that’s what makes them legal tender. The face value of a coin is unrelated to its precious metal content.
Someone on Quora raised a hypothetical scenario: If their boss paid them in gold coin with a face value totaling $5,000 [250 $20 gold coins], but a market value of $500,000, wouldn’t they only have to pay taxes on $5,000 income because that is the amount of legal tender? The answer was no; bullion coins as wages are treated as worth their bullion price in terms of calculating tax liability. However, if you tried to pay said tax liability with those same coins, then the face value (legal tender) would be the amount recognized. As the poster said, “The house always wins.”
The face value is the absolute lowest value that a gold coin can drop to as an investment. So if the world suddenly discovered an infinite supply of gold, your coin would still be worth $20 bucks.
and I meant to respond to 
:
Although using a Gold-to-Go ATM sounds tempting, too. If I had the money. I love that it’s now in your search history (and mine!). I wonder what Google ads will show up for us as a result?