The First “Book” Club Meeting: A Reflection
ARTICLE: “Japan’s Rent-A-Family Industry” by Elif Batuman
We had our first meeting of the Online Article “Book” Club on a bitterly cold February night. It was a Thursday, it was raining, it was so close to the end of the work week.
I left my day job early to give myself enough time to clean my apartment and make the food. I had envisioned a more ambitious menu than prosciutto-wrapped dates stuffed with stilton and toaster waffles topped with crème fraîche and smoked salmon, but that last week of February was murder. Plus, according to Ina Garten, these dishes were sure to be crowd pleasers.
Members of the “book” club started to arrive as I was toasting the waffles and taking the dates out of the oven. My apartment doesn’t have a convenient way to buzz in guests, so I had to go down to get the door each time someone texted me. Since this was the first time most of my guests would be visiting my apartment, I was anxious to see what they thought. I love when people compliment the way I’ve decorated it, when they tell me it should be photographed for a magazine spread. I’m proud of my apartment. I love sharing it.
Once everyone arrived and found a place to sit around the small trunk I use for a coffee table, we started to dig into the food and wine and beer. Everyone introduced themselves and shared how they know me. Then, I started the discussion: “The word ‘real’ was used 54 times throughout the article. What is real? How is this word used in the piece?” It was the first point I included in a discussion guide I created in case we needed it—a few people had mentioned that they’d never attended a book club before, so I figured it would be good to have some discussion starters on hand.
The topic of reality was a great way to kick things off, but we didn’t need the guide for the rest of the evening. Everyone enjoyed the article and had interesting points they wanted to bring up. We even trusted each other enough to share some deeply personal stories. I was so relieved that everyone felt comfortable, was respectful, and didn’t talk over each other.
“Japan’s Rent-A-Family Industry” was such a great article that I question whether we’ll find anything that’s just as good to follow it. We ended the night on this question: “Would any of us ever hire actors to pretend to be our loved ones or exes for any reason? Why or why not?”
More members said they would be willing to try this than I expected. One attendee said that she wanted to start some sort of company that helps people re-enact moments in their lives as rom-coms.
I personally wouldn’t want to rent a family, boyfriend, etc. I just don’t think it would be satisfying, that I would really get anything out of it. Despite how real these experiences might seem, I’d always know they were fake.