Wandering Along the path: Right Speech

My husband and I were discussing Louise Penny's new mystery, The Madness of Crowds, this morning, as he finished it yesterday. It's definitely one of her best, and he'd done some research, and found that one of the persons referred to in the book was real, complex and controversial. I appreciated the information, and believe I understand why she brought him into the plot, because he was an intelligent man who meant initially to do no harm, but ended up crossing boundaries in his attempt to help people with psychiatric disorders. Her book addresses the madness of crowds directly, and the inferrence is Donald Trump and his crowds. She is giving a warning as to the levels of harm these kind of people with no self awareness and the drive to follow others no matter what direction they go. She's showing woundedness and where it can lead us. I found it very insightful and thought provoking. Anyway, my husband is not a great reader, so it's fun when we read the same book and can talk about it. I've been trying to find a book club for years with no success. They are all closed. Luckily, I have a couple of friends who read some of the same books, so I have some opportunities to share responses. And I read reviews to get another take on a book I've read. And, speaking of which, I read the NYTimes review of Richard Powers' new book, Bewilderment, and it's so negative I may not buy novel. You seldom see something so scathing, but perhaps any novel would be a disappointment after Overstory.