Matthew Jellick

Beginning in mid-February through an online platform, and culminating in mid-May with finally meeting in person, I and a group of 10 other staff members from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) have just completed our sixth English Book Club. Each semester we read a different genre, along with an aim to vary the background of our authors, ranging from Asian, to African to American. This year, we read Susan Choi’s novel, “Trust Exercise.” Meeting digitally on Zoom every-other-week, we discussed the book, its characters, and the complex issues at play including gender disparities, economic dichotomies, and thematic shifts, all of which took us along for an interesting ride.

Looking back to spring, 2017 when I initiated this program at my university, I am always amazed at the expanded worldview which these novels provide for our Book Club, encouraging us to see ideas through new lenses, tinted by the reflection from different points of view. Similarly, the words of the authors allow an insight into unique ways of thinking, helping us to reexamine preconceived notions, and to think critically about situations far removed from our daily lives. This held true with “Trust Exercise,” which straddled the foggy line between adulthood and adolescence, touching upon issues of love, loss and life, and how they shape us as we grow, tethering us back to people or places, perhaps, but if examined closely, emboldening us to grow and become our own selves.

Midway through the semester, I took the opportunity to write to our author, Susan Choi, and with a personability which is mirrored in many of her characters, she wrote back, addressing some of the questions the Book Club members had posed, speaking truth to power, not shying away, but rather beautifully articulating carefully crafted responses. A National Book Award winner, Choi has mastery of her words, but with a familiarity in her answers to our questions; it was as if she was sitting down for coffee with us, explaining the complexities of her novel in understandable and personalized terms. Her letter was beautiful, and a reminder to myself that the reason I teach is to constantly learn.

For second-language learners, these books which I choose are challenging from a linguistic approach, but what I encourage my students to do is read for context, not clarity. I want to challenge them with the issues, not the language, and I firmly believe that at the end of each semester, the horizon onto which they place their understanding of global issues is broadened, giving them more power to defy complacency and think in expanded terms.