Discussion Questions
1. Describe
the relationship between Daniel and Fermin. What ties these men
together? What do we learn about these two friends and their lives as
the story unfolds?
2. At the beginning of the novel, a mysterious stranger enters Sempere & Sons and purchases the store's rare copy of
The Count of Monte Cristo. How does this classic French tale tie into
The Prisoner of Heaven?
If you have read both books, how are they similar? Who is The Prisoner
of Heaven and how did he earn this name? Is his incarceration a form of
pure damnation or is there a sublime grace to it as well?
3. The stranger inscribes the book with an enigmatic message:
"For Fermin Romero de Torres, who came back from among the dead and holds the key to the future." What key is this message referring to? How does this inscription drive the story and where does it lead the characters?
4. Daniel makes note of Fermin's stockpile of aphorisms, such as "A
good repast is like a lass in bloom: not to appreciate it is the
business of fools." Look for them throughout the novel, choose a few you
especially like, and then share them with your reading group. How does
Fermin come by his wisdom?
5. Why does Fermin tell Daniel that
he has been protecting him, "From the truth Daniel . . . from the
truth?" Why does Daniel—or anyone—need protection from truth? Does truth
have the power to free Daniel or to imprison him in a psychological
way?
6. Ruiz Zafón interweaves past and present to tell the story of
The Prisoner of Heaven.
How does life in 1939 Barcelona compare to that of 1957? Describe the
Barcelona that Ruiz Zafón creates. What kind of a place is it? How is
the civil war still shaping the lives of its inhabitants two decades
after it began?
7. Fermin reveals to Daniel that he has been
imprisoned in Montjuïc Castle. What kind of conditions do he and the
other prisoners there endure? Among the prisoners he meets is the writer
David Martín. Why is Martín in prison? Why are writers and
intellectuals among the first casualties of a dictatorship? Other
inmates say that Martín is mad. Is he crazy or does he use madness to
survive?
8. What is David Martín's relationship with Mauricio
Valls, the prison's governor? Compare and contrast the two men. What
qualities would you ascribe to each? What happens to each of them and
how are they both connected to Daniel?
9. Why does Fermin eventually go along with Martín's crazy escape scheme? What might have happened if he had not?
10. Fermin is rescued and nursed back to health by the invisible poor
of Barcelona's shadow world. "There are times and places where not to be
anyone is more honourable than someone," Ruiz Zafón writes. What is the
meaning of his words and how does it relate to the "time and place"
brought to life in the novel? Is it better to fight or to give in to
what Daniel calls "the convenient cowardice of survivors"? What is
sacrificed with each choice?
11. Daniel's friend, Professor
Alburquerque, tells him, "Cities have no memory and they need someone
like me, a sage with his feet on the ground, to keep it alive." Explain
what he means. Why do cities have no memory? Why is it is easy to forget
even the most devastating of events? What happens when we do forget?
Would you consider Ruiz Zafón to be a memory keeper like the professor?
12. When Daniel discovers a letter from his wife's old suitor in her
coat pocket, should he have read it? How is Bea's former fiancé tied
into the mystery of both Daniel and Fermin's past?
13. Late in
the novel, Daniel and Fermin visit the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. What
does Daniel find there and how does he react to his discovery? What is
this repository and why is it secret? Why did the prison governor,
Valls, want to learn its whereabouts? How do places such as the Cemetery
of Forgotten Books exist in a brutal and dangerous world like fascist
Spain?
14. What do you think comes next for Daniel and Fermin?
15. In the novel's prologue, the author writes, "
The Prisoner of Heaven is part of a cycle of novels set in the literary universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books of which
The Shadow of the Wind and
The Angel's Game
are the two first installments. Although each work within the cycle
presents an independent, self-contained tale, they are all connected
through characters and storylines, creating thematic and narrative
links." If you have read the other two books, identify these links. How
does reading this third installment shed new light on the characters and
your understanding of the mysterious Cemetery of Forgotten Books?
(
Questions issued by publisher.)
