Book Club

The story has actually been really interesting so far.  I read the first 70ish pages or so in one sitting and it went by fairly quickly.  It is about a family who lives in Michigan during (what sounds like) an extremely cold Michigan winter.  They stated that temperatures were getting as low as -20 degrees.  The main family the book is based around consists of a mom, dad, and 3 children-Byron, Kenneth, and Joetta.  The family seems to be more well off compared to other families in the book because Kenneth states how he and Joetta are one of the few kids that have nice gloves on the playground.  In fact, they get two pairs of gloves per year.  This contrasts with the other children who either use cheaper quality gloves or do not have gloves at all.  Kenneth is the middle child and seems to get picked on quite a bit.  He thinks it's because he is good at reading and because he has one lazy eye.  Byron is his older brother who seems unsuccessful in school, but is a "God" socially.  He seems to go by his own rules and disregard what other people want him to do.  He also picks on Kenneth quite a bit.  Joetta is the youngest and she is in kindergarten.  The only things I've really heard about her is that she gets along fairly well with both of her brothers and seems to cry a lot when any sort of "crisis" happens.  Another main character we've been introduced to is Kenneth's friend Rufus.  Rufus seems to be a really nice person but is also picked on because of his southern accent.  Kenneth definitely likes having him around though because he was very lonely before.  One factor I noticed about Rufus is I think his family might be struggling financially.  This is because the book states how Rufus and his younger brother only have 2-3 shirts and have to switch off a pair of blue jeans with each other every other day.  On top of that, Rufus and his brother never have lunches so Kenneth always ends up giving him some of his.  Overall, it has been fun learning about all the different characters in the book.  They are all very different and I'm sure can relate to individual readers in many unique ways.