Monday, August 27, 2018

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson


By Jonas Jonasson

(Tansley Reads Rating: 58%)

Icebreaker

 
Who would you consider to be the most important public figure you have ever met?  Where are the most interesting places you have been?

 Questions


1.  Why do you think the author chose to make the main character 100 years old? What does he have to say about the elderly?

2.  Why do you think Allan climbed out the window in the first place?
 
3.  What do you think drove Allan to steal the suitcase?

 4.  Did you enjoy the way the novel switched from the present day to the past? Did it add or detract from your enjoyment of the story?
 
5. Many modern historical events and famous people where woven into the plot. Did you find this added or detracted from the twists of the tale?

6.  Are there other historical figures or moments you would have liked to have seen in the book?

7.  What do you think of Allan’s lack of political interest and stance and how does this affect the story? 

8. Why do you think the author chose to make Allan a eunuch? How do you think this affected his character and was it significant to the plot?

9.  Did you enjoy the humour in this novel?  Did any situation strike you as particularly funny?

10.  What do you think all the main characters had in common, if anything?
 
11.  What did you think about Allan and Amanda getting together at the end of the story?

12.  Why do you think the author repeated the same paragraph at the start and end of the book?

13.  This novel has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 300 languages. Why do you think it has such worldwide, cross-cultural appeal considering Scandinavian literature is often renowned for being bleak and dark?

14: Is there anything else you would like to discuss that we didn’t cover?

15:  Quick round – What did you think of the book?

 

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr


All the Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr

(Tansley Reads Rating: 74%)
 
Icebreaker :  If you were giving someone a gift of reading, as President Obama did for his daughter, which five books would you include?
 
Questions


 1.  On page 390, the author writes, “To shut your eyes is to guess nothing of blindness.” Do you think that being blind gave Marie-Laure any advantages?

2.  What was the basis of the friendship between Werner and Frederick?
              
3.  Werner, Frederick and their classmates are all called out into the yard and each is told to throw a pail of cold water on a chained prisoner. Werner follows the expectation but Fredrik refuses multiple times and pays for it dearly.  Does Werner ever show a similar strength of character anywhere in this story?

 4.  Why do you think Doerr chose these two characters (Werner and Marie-Laure) to write about?  Was it because of their differences or their similarities?

 5. How crucial a role does radio play in the story and in the time period?

6.  Why does Doerr use the novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, as such a big part of this story.          
7. On page 368, Werner thinks, “That is how things are...with everybody in this unit, in this army, in this world, they do as they’re told, they get scared, they move about with only themselves in mind. Name me someone who does not.” But in fact many of the characters show great courage and selflessness throughout the story in some way, big or small. Which characters put themselves at risk in order to do what they think is right?

8. There were multiple characters with both major and minor roles in this book.  Whose story did you enjoy the most and was there any character you wanted more insight into?

9.  Why do you think Marie-Laure gave Werner the little iron key to the old kennels and why would Werner have gone back for the wooden house but left the Sea of Flames?

10. The 1970s image of Jutta is one of a woman deeply guilt-ridden and self-conscious about her identity as a German. Why do you think she feels so much guilt over the crimes of others? Do you think she should feel any shame about her identity?
                       
11. What do you think of the author’s decision to flash forward at the end of the book? Did you like getting a peek into the future of some of these characters? Did anything surprise you?

 12.  When Werner and Jutta first hear the Frenchman on the radio, he concludes his broadcast by saying “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever” (pages 48–49), and Werner recalls these words throughout the book.  How do you think this phrase relates to the overall message of the story?

13. In this story, what is All the Light We Cannot See?
 14:  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?

 

Any Known Blood, Lawrence Hill


Any Known Blood
Questions
(Tansley Reads Rating: 69%)

  1. ICEBREAKER: Have you ever discovered that a favourite family story was not true in the version you remembered?
  2. Langston’s relationship with his father is very strained, much like many of the others in the book. Does that have something to do with the family history? Or a family habit of non-communication? Is this like the legacy of the residential schools – families pulled apart generations ago forgot how to be family, lost the knack of intimacy and have passed that along to their children?
  3. Do you get the impression that in a family with so many shades of colour, people of different shades resent each other somehow? Does the current LC feel alienated from the black part of his family by the fact that he is so light he could “pass”? Is that why his Aunt Mill is slow to accept him?
  4. The first LC to become a preacher seemed to come at it “sideways” – no background, etc. and then his son did it out of desperation when money was short. Yet their legacy at the Baltimore church was impressive. Do you think they were sincere in their faith or just talented as preachers?
  5. The family believes that the first LC was killed at Harper’s Ferry, but in fact he lived on for many years, even attending his son’s university graduation. Yet somehow the story of that appearance wasn’t known to the current LC. So many stories had been told, but many of them seemed to hold only a tinge of truth. Why?
  6. Did you find it confusing that the story unfolded as LC discovered the pieces of it – i.e. in reverse chronological order? Would the author’s story have worked if he’d told the family story in its “correct” order? Did it gain or lose suspense this way?
  7. Were you surprised that Oakville was a terminus of the Underground Railway? That there used to be a thriving black community there? That the KKK was at one time active in Oakville?
  8. In the second generation there were 2 other LCs. They disappeared. Did you wonder if one of them might have family somewhere who might turn up in this story?
  9. Yoyo’s satire – his attitude to North America, his disdain of Americans calling themselves African. ???????????
  10. Are the families in the story held together by women? Do the Crane men have too much centrifugal force for them to be able to?
  11. Will knowing his family’s story change Langston’s life?

Beach Strip, John Lawrence Reynolds



Beach Strip by John Lawrence Reynolds

 (Tansley Reads Rating: 65%)

The meeting was devoted to a discussion with the author.

 

Intro for Reynolds

 

Ice Breaker Questions:

1. What books do you have beside your bed right now?

2. What famous person, either living or dead, would you most want to have dinner with?

3. What is your pet peeve?

4. What is your favourite word?

5. What is your favourite time of day?

 

Presentation/Discussion

 

Thanks to author + Gift

 

Beneath the Wake, Ross Pennie


Beneath the Wake

By Ross Pennie
(Tansley Reads Rating: 56%)

Questions

 

1.  The Mystery

When in the book did you solve the mystery? What did you think of the way the author revealed his clues?

 

2.  Characters/Plot

There were four characters introduced in the story but never really developed (Martha De Groot, Jane Delaney, Maureen – wife of Mark and Aunt Audrey).  What was the purpose of these characters and how could the author have expanded their roles in his novel?  Are there any other plot lines you would like to have seen developed?

           

3. Euthanasia

What was your opinion of the euthanasia service the doctor offered on his ship?

 

4. Refugees

Refugees experience a variety of challenges and hardships when leaving their countries to find safety.  Is the experience of the Hazara, in this instance, any better?

 

5. Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?

 

The Book of Madness and Cures, Regina O'Melveny


The Book of Madness and Cures

By Regina O’Melveny
(Tansley Reads Rating: 41%)
 
Icebreaker

 

Time and again, Gabriella must defend her worth as a female doctor and disguise herself as a man to ensure safe passage on her journey. When in your own life have you experienced prejudice, or been prevented from doing something because of your gender?

 

Questions

 

1.  On pg. 26, Gabriella says to her friend Lavinia, "Lavinia, I want the unknown."  What were Gabriella’s reasons for leaving her home in Venitia for the unknown, especially after waiting ten years for her father?

 

2.  Why does Gabriella’s father leave in the first place, and do you think he ever intended to return home?

                     

3.  Gabriella and her mother have a poor relationship. What do you think are the reasons for this?

 

4.  What role does The Book of Diseases play in the novel? Did including the excerpts from Gabriella’s contribution to “The Book of Diseases” add or detract from your understanding and enjoyment of the story?

 

5.  What is the significance of the medicine chest?

 

6.  In what ways do Gabriella’s companions, Olmina and Lorenzo, guide or hamper her quest?

                     

7.  On pg. 166, Vincenzo says, “We often flirt with the very thing we create….” He goes on to admit that he loves, too much, the beautiful bolts of cloth he sells. Gabriella then realizes she is single-minded to a fault. Was Gabriella journey as single-minded, as she believed?

 

8.  What purpose was served in the story by introducing the character of Wilhelm?

 

9.  Gabriella’s father often told her “the patient owns the remedy.” What do you think he meant?

 

10.  On pg. 234, Gabriella, in discussion with Dr. Joubert, ponders aloud, “When does a wise adventure become a foolish one?” In your experience, what makes an adventure a wise one and what marks its transition to a foolish one?

                     

11.  Lorenzo dies before the end of their journey. Would their journey have been any different if Lorenzo had lived?

 

12.  Gabriella finds her father, but he is unrecognizable as the man who left her years ago.  She tended him very tenderly until his death, but never knew if he had any awareness of who she was.  Do you think this will have any effect on her after his death? 

 

13. On pg. 311 Hamish says to Gabriella, "I'm sorry about the death of your father."  She responds, "Oh! But you know, he left long ago."  In what ways does Gabriella’s father’s death free her?


14. Why does Hamish not approach Gabriella until after she has buried her father in Taradante?

 

15:  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?

 

The Calligrapher's Daughter, Eugenia Kim


The Calligrapher’s Daughter

by Eugenia Kim

(Tansley Reads Rating: 74%)
 
Icebreaker:

1.               Are there stories in your own family’s history that might contain the seeds of a novel?

 

Questions:

1.               What if Najin had been the daughter of a carpenter, grocer, teacher, etc?  How different do you think her life would have been then?

2.               While Najin is the primary narrator of The Calligrapher’s Daughter, many chapters are written from the points-of-view of her father and her mother.  How did seeing Najin’s world from their perspective alter your understanding of it?

3.               Najin’s father, the calligrapher Han, is very traditional.  Did he fear change or was he simply stubborn?  What did change represent to him?  What does he gain by maintaining old customs?  What does he lose?  Did your perceptions of him change as the novel progressed?

4.              

(a)             Why did Najin’s father refuse to name his daughter?

(b)             What do you think of Najin’s discovery that, by her father not giving her a name, had given her “enormous freedom” (p.374)?

5.              

(a)             Why do you think Najin’s father blamed her for a lot of the bad things that happened in his life?

(b)             Why do you think Najin’s father felt that his relationship with his daughter changed after she returns from living with Calvin’s parents (p.294)?

6.               Ilsun, Najin’s brother (whom she calls Dongsaeng), often seems to bring trouble upon himself and his family.  What special pressures does he face as the firstborn son?  Could you empathize at all with his behaviours?

7.               Despite the Korean Confucian standard of male supremacy during that era, may of the women in The Calligrapher’s Daughter managed to find meaning and fulfillment in their lives.  What personal choices, if any, did Najin’s mother, her mother-in-law and her two sisters-in-law (Unsook and Meeja) make within the confines of their roles?

8.               How do you feel about the vision Najin’s mother had before her birth (p. 54)?  [Quote:  “Yes, and for your too.  In my further month with you, I dreamt of catching a small white fish between my hands as I waded in a lovely stream, so coo, so fresh, so clean.  Such a beautiful little, fish, it made me laugh in my dream and I woke up laughing!  That was you.”]  Do you think it describes Najin’s true character?

9.               Najin use the vision she and her mother shared:  “Like water, flowing around beneath and through rotted trees, we would always flow” (p.184) to help her survive in difficult circumstances (when her father was looking for a husband for her, when she was in prison, etc.).  Why does this image help her?

10.            Najin and her mother seem to share a deep understanding of all the bet qualities in a mother-daughter relationship, yet the word “love” is never spoken.  What are some of those qualities and how were they conveyed?

11.            As an adult, Najin tries to keep her personal trials to herself, such as her silence about the torture she witnessed in prison.  Where did her ability to suppress feelings stem from?  Could she have been more expressive?  When might it have served her better if she were more forthcoming with her feelings and difficulties?

12.            Najin experiences faith and belief in varying degrees.  When does her faith feel strongest to her, and when does it ebb?  Why do you think she is unable to sustain a consistent belief?  Given here conflicted feelings about religion, did you think she made the right decision to marry a seminarian?

13.            How do you think Najin’s life would have been different if she had been able to join Calvin in the U.S.A?

14.            Most of the married couples in The Calligrapher’s Daughter (parents, in-laws, Najin/Calvin, servant couple, brother/wives) face severe stresses during at least one point of their relationship.  Discuss the different challenges thrust upon them, as well as how they deal with them.  What does this novel say about love?  What does it say about fidelity?

15.            Eugenia Kim has said that her novel was inspired by the life of her mother, and that the “writing experience radically changed my regard for my mother and my father, as well as my own Korean-American identity, in the most enriching positive way”.  Relating back to our icebreaker, can you think of any personal instances where, by finding out more about a family member (or other person), gave you a better understanding of their situation or personality, and possibly a better appreciation thereof, than what you knew about them “on the surface”?

OR

16.            In an interview, Eugenia Kim indicates that her mother’s English was better than Eugenia’s English, which is how they communicated most times.  In deciding whether to write about her mother’s stories, she states:  “I inherently knew that with my English ears and her Korean storytelling, my act of listening was in itself an act of fiction, and with the MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) from Bennington College came the conclusion that fiction was the most effective way to bring an emotional truth to the stories and living personality to the characters”.  Do you agree?  Was she successful in achieving these objectives in The Calligrapher’s Daughter?

17.            Were you satisfied with the ending of the novel?

Carly's Voice, Arthur Fleischmann


Carly’s Voice

By Arthur Fleischmann
(Tansley Reads Rating: 61%)

Icebreaker

 

What if something happened to you and you weren’t able to communicate?  How would that affect everything in your life?

 

Questions

 

Divide the group into three smaller groups and hand out the following questions one at a time.  Give them 10-20 min. to discuss each question and then bring them back together to compare their thoughts.

 

1. What are the obligations of society to a person like Carly?  How much help should each child be entitled to?

 

2. What are a family’s responsibilities to their “normal” children when faced with caring for a severely disabled child?  Did the Fleischmann family fulfil these responsibilities?

 

3.   If we are integrating children with exceptionalities into regular classrooms, what is the benefit to them and to the other children in the classroom?  Are there negatives?


Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?

 

The Cat's Table, Michael Ondaatje


THE CAT’S TABLE

By Michael Ondaatje

 (Tansley Reads Rating: 47%)

Icebreaker Question:

On page 196 Michael says, “It would always be strangers like them, at the various Cat’s Tables of my life, who would alter me”.  Did you have an experience at a young age of a stranger or acquaintance altering the direction of your life’s journey, or some portion thereof? 

 

Questions:

1.               The first chapter describes the boy being put on a ship.  Before you had read the story, what did you imagine might have been the reason for his journey?

2.               Why do you think the opening passages of the book are told in third person?

3.               In the second chapter you learn that he is being sent to his mother.  What did this say about his family situation in Sri Lanka (Ceylon)?

4.               There is never a very strong description of Michael anywhere in the book, yet he is given the nickname “Magpie”.  Does this give you any insight into his appearance or character?  [Note:  Magpies love to steal shiny things.  Does this help?]

5.               We are 133 pages into the novel before Ondaatje gives us an idea of what year it is.  How does he use time – or the sense of timelessness – to propel the story?

6.               Key main characters in the novel are children.  Do you think that Ondaatje successfully recreates the observations and thought processes of a child in his writing?  How?

7.               For several characters – the three boys and Emily among them – the journey represents a loss of innocence.  For whom does it have the greatest impact?

8.               Discuss the three boys’ experience during the typhoon.  How does it affect their friendship and their attitude toward authority figures?

9.               There is a strong focus on journeys and destinations as themes.  How is the voyage itself a parallel or metaphor for childhood?

10.            On page 75 the narrator realizes “what is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.  Nothing much of lasting value ever happens at the head table, held together by a familiar rhetoric.  Those who already have power continue to glide along the familiar rut they have made for themselves.” 

The anonymity of ocean travel and the sense that aboard ship we know only what others want us to know about them come into play at several points in the novel.  What is Ondaatje saying about identity?

11.            Discuss the importance of some of the seemingly minor characters at the table:  Mr. Mazappa, Mr. Fonseka, Mr Nevil, and/or Miss Lasqueti.  Also, Asuntha and Emily (who were not at their table, but are minor characters).  What do they contribute to the story?

12.            On page 155, the narrator refers to Ramadhin as “the saint of our clandestine family”. What does he mean?

13.            What life changing event happened to Michael after he fell asleep with Emily (pg.133-115).  He becomes suddenly worried about meeting his mother after so long and she (Emily) comforts him, but he says, “but for me, in that cabin, it was the first time I looked at myself with a distant eye, just as the neutral eyes of the distant young Queen had watched me all morning.”:  What do you think he saw in himself?

14.            The main character, Michael, explains that though he kept in contact with Ramadhin, Cassius he never saw again.  Why do you think this is?  Emily and Michael also barely saw each other again.  Do you think this is linked?

15.            When describing the collapse of his marriage, the narrator says, “Massi said that sometimes, when things overwhelmed me, there was a trick or a habit I had:  I turned myself into something that did not belong anywhere.  I trusted nothing I was told, not even what I witnessed (page 203).  What made him behave this way?  How did it affect his marriage?

16.            On page 208, the narrator tells us about a master class given by the filmmaker Luc Dardenne in which:  he spoke of how viewers of his films should not assume they understood everything about the characters.  As members of an audience we should never feel ourselves wiser than they; we do not have more knowledge than the characters have about themselves.  Why did Ondaatje give us this warning, so far into the novel?  What is he telling us?

17.            When Emily says to the narrator, “I don’t think you can love me into safety” (page 250), to what is she referring?  Why do you think Emily wanted to see him again after so many years?

18.            [USE IF TIME PERMITS]  On page 243, Michael says, “With just three or four children at its centre, on a voyage whose clear map and sure destination would suggest nothing to fear or unravel. For years I barely remembered it.”  Do you not find that odd?  Why does he remember now?

19.            Many mysteries at the end of the novel remain unexplored.  Do you think this was the right choice by the author?  Does this detract from the satisfaction of the ending?

20.            Michael Ondaatje claims that this is just a work of fiction with no biographical content, yet the story parallels his life and he even names the main character “Michael”.  Do you think there is any significance to this?

 

The Child, Fiona Barton


The Child

By Fiona Barton
(Tansley Reads Rating: 60%)

Icebreaker

Think of yourself as a young child saying: - “When I grow up I will be, or, I will do”. Has it come true?

 

Questions

 

1.  What is the role of journalism in this book?

2.  Do you think media help or hinder the police during crime investigations?

                     

3.  Were you confused by the introduction of the cast of characters? Did you write the names down and need to refer to your notes throughout the book?

 

4. Why do you think this “cold case” investigation is so important to Kate initially, and does her motivation change over the course of the novel?

 

5. Jude didn’t have a good relationship with her own mother or with Emma. On page 43, we read “From the moment she’d brought Emma home, she’d been determined to have a completely different bond with her daughter from the tense relationship she had had with her own mother.” Was the relationship between Jude and Emma one of love or convenience?

 

 

6.  Jude seems to “live angry” all the time. Why?

                     

7.  When Emma was 13 or 14 she and Harry, at Harry’s urging, go to Brighton to try and find Emma’s father. Would Emma have looked for her father without Harry’s urging.

 

8.  How was the story line affected by the detail the author included about Soames and Will’s “game”?

 

9.  There are several people in Emma's life with whom she could have shared the story of her rape and pregnancy (her mother/Jude, her best friend/ Harry, her husband, various doctors and therapists even the police). Why does she choose Kate, the reporter?

 

 

10.  Why would Emma have allowed Angela and Kate to go to the funeral but not Nick and Paul?

 

                     

11.  Fiona Barton includes many clues/hints throughout the book. Which one did you find most clever or creative?

 

 

 14:  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?