Monday, August 27, 2018

The Ragged Company, Richard Wagamese


The Ragged Company

By Richard Wagamese

(Tansley Reads Rating: 87% -- winner for the year and highest score ever)
 
Icebreaker

1. What would you do with $4 million?

 

2. What movies would you recommend as “must sees”?

 

3. What would you do if you found a lottery ticket in the street?

 

4.  If you were to be known for your actions (Digger) or saying (“one for the dead”), what would your street name be? 

 

 

Questions

 

1.  Amelia, or One for the Dead, seems compelled to take care of the people on the streets.  What is it about her that Digger, Timber and Dick seemed to respect and trust?

 

2.  The character’s stories of how they came to be on the streets were tragic.  Which one(s) did you find most tragic compared to the others?  Whose?  Why?

                     

3.  What was the attraction of the movies for the main characters (aside from a warm place to sit)?

 

4. Why did Amelia approach Granite in the theatre the first time?

 

5. What is it in Granite that allowed him to connect to this group of people, and what drew them to him?

 

6. Is the title of the book “Ragged Company” just a physical description of the characters, or does it mean something more?

                     

7.  The ragged company might include only Digger, Double Dick, One for the Dead and Timber, or, it could be inclusive of Granite, Margo and James. Is the company any more or less “ragged” if Granite, Margo and James are members?

 

8.  Would you have wanted to meet any of these characters?

 

9. Have you ever interacted with a homeless person? Now, after reading Ragged Company, would your next meeting be different?

 

10.  How plausible was the author’s depiction of the characters’ lottery win?  How did this lottery win change them?

                     

11.  “Home” is central to this book. At the end, Amelia says she left the house on Indian Road and she went back to the street but sometimes “I come home to Indian Road”.  How is home defined by the different characters?

 

12.  Did the telling of this story in different voices help or hinder your enjoyment and understanding of this story?

 

13. Who is “speaking” the remarks in italics throughout this story? Is it the same two voices each time?

 

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

 

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