Tuesday, December 13, 2016

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Discussion Questions

I believe this is the book we are reading for January.

My question is "What does the title mean?"

Here are some more questions:
1. Talk about each of the characters—Akhmed, Haava, Sonja, Natasha, Khassan, and Ramzan. Do you care about any of them? Whom do you find particularly sympathetic? Do your opinions of any of the characters change over the course of the novel?

2. One of the book's themes is our inability to know the depths of another being. In a beautiful paragraph (end of Chapter 3) Sonja ponders Haava who is lying next to her—Haava possesses 206 bones, 606 muscles, 2.5 million sweat glands, and 100 billion cerebral neurons; all this Sonja can know. She cannot fathom, however, "the dreams crowding [Havva's] skull" or "the mystery the girl would spend her life solving." Do you find that to be true in real life—how deeply can we know another being? Does fiction, perhaps, allow us insights into other beings that we cannot attain in our own lives? Do you feel you know the loved ones closest to you?

3. Follow-up to Question 2: The narrator frequently jumps ahead by years, even decades, to inform readers of what happens to various characters—whether they live...or die...or grow senile.... What effect does this create on you, the reader?

4. A emphasis on art runs throughout the novel. Akhmed draws portraits and posts them throughout the village; Haava "rebuilds" the body of her childhood nemesis, Akim, using Akhmed's portrait of him; Natasha recreates the view of a cityscape blown away by shelling, and Maali is nearly as invested in Natasha's project as Natasha herself. Why is art so significant in this book? What role does art play in Akhmed's and Natasha's lives—and in the lives of others.

5. Talk about the characters' religious beliefs or lack of beliefs? How does the war affect the faithful...and nonfaithful alike? How would your faith be affected? 6. In interviews author Anthony Marra has said he chose to write about Chechnya after spending his junior year in St. Petersburg during the time of the Chechnyan war. While there, he was fascinated by accounts of how ordinary people behaved in extraordinary situations—the kinds of moral choices they had to make. Talk about the characters in A Constellation of vital Phenomena who dramatize the tough moral choices Marra refers to...especially Ramzan and Khassan. Are there others? What choices do they make and why? How might you have responded in such horrific circumstances? Does morality change depending on the context?

7. SPOILER ALERTS! Follow-up to Question 6: Should Khassan have killed his son—is such an action just or moral? Does learning Ramzan's backstory, change your opinion of him...perhaps justify his later actions?

8. Trace the six-degrees-of-separation between the characters, their actions, and final consequences. In other words, how are the characters interconnected? What might the author be suggesting by such connectedness—both within the confines of the novel and, perhaps, in the real world outside the scope of the novel? What kind of worldview does Marra seem to project? Do the coincidences feel contrived? Or do you see them as organic, part of the gradual unfolding of the novel?

9. A great deal is made in the novel of the desire for characters to be buried at home. Notes with names and addresses are sewn into clothing so families can be notified and thereby claim the body of the loved one. Why is burial at home so important? Is it a tradition peculiar to that culture...or a universal desire?

10. The book contains a fair amount of humor—the banter between Akhmed and the nurse Deshi, the reference to Barbie Doll's emaciated waistline, Akhmed's confusion over Ronald Reagan and Ronald MacDonald, and his astonishment at how the U.S. elections transfer power from one president to the next—"It makes me wonder how [Russia] lost the Cold War." Where else do you find humor...and why do you suppose the author included such moments in an otherwise dark story?

11. Think about the structure of the novel, as it moves back and forth through time, and the inclusion of timelines at the head of each chapter. Why might Marra have devised a disjointed structure for his story? What might it suggest about the fractured lives of his characters? What do you, as a reader, think is gained—or lost—using such a structure?

12. Why are the Feds so intent on finding Haava? What do they want with her?

13. What drove the two Chechnyan wars? What were the conflicts involved? What have you learned about the war that you were unaware of before reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena? While the Chechnyan war was ongoing, how much attention did you pay to it?

14. What do you find most shocking in the account of the war? What is most horrifying or disturbing? Where do you find displays of human kindness to counteract the brutality? Is there anything hopeful in the book?

15. What is the meaning and/or significance of the book's title?

SOURCE: http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/9270-constellation-of-vital-phenomena-marra?start=3

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Oh look -- Q 15 is my question too.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Before I Go to Sleep Discussion Questions

Source: http://www.princetonbookreview.com/book_pages/discussion/before-i-go-to-sleep.php

Book Club Talking Points:

Talking Points: This is a book that lingers in your mind and stays with you for a while. Partly because it is a well crafted page turner, but also because it’s hard to imagine having no permanent memory. It’s a physiological thriller, (versus an action thriller) so it delves into human relationships, the power of the mind and the meaning of reality.

*Author Website: http://www.sjwatson-books.com/

*Other Books by Same Author: Debut novel for this author

*Discussion Questions

1. Christine doesn’t feel a strong sense of love for her husband, but wonders if that is normal after so many years of marriage. Do you think it’s inevitable that a marriage changes in this way?

2. Christine says that feels like an animal. Living from moment to moment, day to day, trying to make sense of the world. Do you think this is what it must be like to be in her situation? Do you think animals really have no sense of their past? Is the ability to remember years gone by all that separates human beings from animals?

3. Christine doesn’t feel she achieved all of her childhood ambitions. She feels disappointment in the life that she has made for herself. Is this common for a woman as she approaches fifty years of age? Do you think she is right to be disappointed, or were her childhood ambitions unrealistic?

4. How important is memory to our sense of identity? What are the events in your life that have been important to in shaping who you are? Can you imagine what it might be like if you couldn’t remember them? How would you be different as a person?

5. Christine can’t remember Adam, or Claire. She can’t remember her wedding day or writing For the Morning Birds. Have these people and things changed her personality anyway, though, even though she can’t remember them? Is not remembering something effectively the same as it not having happened?

6. What are Dr Nash’s feelings towards Christine? Do you think he is behaving in a professional manner? He says he is writing up her case – are his motives for helping her entirely selfless? Is he being completely honest with her?

7. Do you think that Christine’s affair is out of character for her? Why do you think it happened? Why do you think she risks her marriage? Does she treat her husband well? And Mike? Was she being fair to him?

8. Christine believes Ben doesn’t tell her about Adam so that she doesn’t get upset. Would he be right to do this? Or does she have a right to know about him no matter how painful that knowledge might be? Are there other examples of people keeping things from Christine ‘for her own benefit’? Do you think this is ever the right thing to do?

9. Towards the end of the book Nash calls round at Christine’s house, but she can’t remember asking him to, even though he says she did so earlier that morning. Do you think she did so, but then forgot? Or is Nash lying to cover up the fact he had come uninvited?

10. Do you think Christine feels like a sexual person? Do you think she would be nervous about sex, and about her own body? Do you think every sexual experience would feel like the first for her? Does her husband have a right to expect her to have sex with him, even if she feels she has never met him before?

11. Did you like the ending? Did it represent closure for you? What about Christine? Do you think she will remember what happened to her when she wakes up?

Monday, September 26, 2016

Best CanLit 2016: Giller Prize short list

From HuffPost:

Vancouver-born Madeleine Thien could walk away with two of the biggest awards in fiction this fall as she joins a female-dominated list of finalists for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

The Montreal-based author was named to the short list for the $100,000 prize on Monday for "Do Not Say We Have Nothing'' (Knopf Canada), which is set in China before, during and after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The novel is also in the running for the prestigious Man Booker Prize, which will be awarded Oct. 25.

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Thien is one of six finalists for this year's Giller — five of whom are women.

Acclaimed Irish-born, London, Ont.-based author Emma Donoghue was recognized for her mysterious novel "The Wonder'' (HarperCollins). She made the long list four years ago for "The Sealed Letter.''

The Giller honour continues a steady stream of recognition in 2016 for Donoghue, who nabbed an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination earlier this year for her celebrated novel "Room.''

"(For) Canadian writers, I don't think anything gives us quite as much of a glow as getting on any Giller list. It's got such a great reputation, this prize,'' Donoghue said in a recent phone interview.

Montreal-born author Mona Awad was recognized for her debut "13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl'' (Penguin Random House Canada), which already received the $40,000 Amazon.ca First Novel Award in May.

Montreal's Catherine Leroux was honoured for "The Party Wall,'' translated by Lazer Lederhendler (Biblioasis International Translation Series), and Toronto-based Zoe Whittall made the cut for "The Best Kind of People'' (House of Anansi Press).

Hamilton-based Gary Barwin is the lone male author on this year's short list for his novel "Yiddish for Pirates'' (Random House Canada).

The jury, chaired by Lawrence Hill, read 161 books submitted by 69 publisher imprints. The short list of six titles was selected from a long list of 12 works announced earlier this month.

(snip)

Joining Hill and Heer on this year's jury are fellow Canadian writer Kathleen Winter, British author Samantha Harvey and Scottish writer Alan Warner.

A series of special readings will be held in celebration of this year's authors in Halifax on Oct. 14, Vancouver on Oct. 17 and Toronto on Nov. 6.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists.

(snip)

"The Debaters'' host Steve Patterson will host this years's Scotiabank Giller Prize gala, which will air on CBC-TV and be livestreamed at CBCBooks.ca on Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. ET.

full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/09/26/giller-prize-short-list-2016_n_12201306.html

audio clips of the books and authors: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/09/emma-donoghue-madeleine-thien-make-scotiabank-giller-prize-shortlist.html

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NOTE:

We read nominee Emma Donohue's book Room

Mona Awad's "13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl" was one of the books we considered for this year.

Monday, September 12, 2016

October Book: The Little Paris Bookshop, Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions:
1.      “Memories are like wolves. You can’t lock them away and hope they leave you alone.” The Little Paris Bookshop begins when Monsieur Perdu opens the room he’s kept sealed off for two decades. What are your first impressions of Perdu, and do you think he’s justified in shutting out the past?

2.      “Perdu reflected that it was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books. They looked after people.” Monsieur Perdu helps countless people find books that heal them. In your life, have you ever felt that a book restored you to yourself? If there was a Literary Apothecary where you lived, would you visit?

3.      In Chapter 3, Perdu refuses to sell a copy of Max Jordan’s Night to a customer, because he feels it would upset her. How would you react if this happened to you? Is there such thing as a dangerous book?

4.      On their journey South, Perdu forges a powerful friendship with both Max and Cuneo. What do the three characters teach each other?

5.      The death of the deer is an emotionally charged scene that serves to ignite something within Perdu. What do you think it represented for the three men?

6.      We come to know Manon through Perdu’s account of her, and her travel diary. What did you think of her as a character? Do you believe it is possible to love more than one person at once, as she does?

7.      In Chapter 32, Samy says there are three kinds of love: sexual love, logical love, and a love that “comes from your chest or your solar plexus, or somewhere in between.” What do you think she means by this, and do you agree?

8.      The time to mourn, or “hurting time,” becomes important for nearly every character in The Little Paris Bookshop. Do you believe a period of grieving is necessary when a loved one is lost? Does it depend on the circumstances in which they left your life?

9.      Perdu finally arrives in Bonnieux, where he asks Manon’s husband Luc for forgiveness. Does Luc provide Perdu with the sense of closure he lacks? Does Perdu offer anything to Luc?

10. The text that is perhaps most vital to Perdu’s emotional journey is Sanary’s Southern Lights. Were you surprised to discover the author’s true identity? Why or why not?

11. The novel includes pages from Manon’s journal, letters between Perdu and Catherine, recipes, and a reading list. Did these artifacts make your reading experience a richer one?

12. Love and friendship, the power of stories to heal—of these, what do you think this novel is most about?

Source: http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/241309/the-little-paris-bookshop-by-nina-george/reading-guide