How Saturn Vue's Book Clubs

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, but apparently book clubs are from Saturn.

At Unbound Books, we're pro-book club. We think they're great ways for people with a common interest in books to read something on a schedule and reward themselves for the accomplishment with good discussion, good company, and some social fun. Not everyone likes or even reads every book. But that's okay. You get to share ideas and opinions and learn something new. 

I don't know what to make of this. On the surface, it's a series of webisodes about a group of four professional women who sneak out of their obnoxiously boring and pretentious book club for a series of exciting road trips in a hybrid Saturn Vue. Is it anti-book club? Is it anti-book? Is it just anti-pretension? I can't really figure it out. The women may not like their book club but they do read books. We see them flipping pages as they drive. Their road trips are tangentially related - the first episode features a surfing outing with a half-naked stud instructor because that's how you connect with the spiritualism of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. (Of course, you have to swim in your own clothes or underwear because you're so spontaneous you didn't pack a bathing suit.) 

To add to the confusion, the website promotes book clubs "in your area" and has opinions and reading lists for the characters. And it all somehow ties in to the experience of driving a Saturn. 

The most bewildering and even offensive aspect of the whole production, however, is the banality. It's professionally acted and shot but the script seems stilted and contrived. The tone is not quite sincere but not quite sarcastic, kind of Desperate Housewives lite. It inspires you to wonder what the market research department discovered. Someone must have said: networks are the way to reach people; book clubs are a kind of network that our customers use often; books promise exotic destinations and lifestyles but discussing them at someone's living room is kind of boring compared to driving a Saturn... Let's hit the road!

I'm completely hooked. I promise to keep watching and let you know where this great rolling book club adventure ends up.