S7 - Final Book - Ghosted Discussion Questions

Ghosted

1. Have you ever ghosted someone, or been ghosted yourself? How did you handle it? What happened?

2. How should Sarah have handled Eddie’s disappearance? Was she right to keep searching for him, or should she have left it alone?

3. What do you make of Sarah and Reuben’s marriage? Do you think they were a good fit for each other when they met, or was their match doomed to fail no matter what? Did they behave well toward each other? What advice would you have given them?

4. There are a number of relationships in the book, and all are written with nuance and complexity. Do you see yourself in how the characters interacted with one another? Why do you think Eddie’s relationship with his mother was so tense? Could Sarah have been a better friend to Jenni?

5. Technology plays a significant role in the book and Sarah’s constant addiction to checking her phone takes a toll on her mental health. Do you think it’s important that Sarah had the option to try to track down Eddie? Why or why not?

6. There are number of anonymous letters scattered throughout the book. Did you guess to whom these were addressed, or who they were from? When did you know?

7. Were you surprised when you learned the truth about Hannah and Alex all those years ago? What did you think had occurred?

8. Having a child together is ultimately the one thing that seems to bring both Sarah and Eddie’s families together at last. Yet Jenni and Javier struggle to get pregnant, and must decide what their life will look like without children. If you couldn’t have children, or do not plan to have children, what would your life look like?

9. Why do you think Jo and Tommy kept their relationship secret? Would you have done the same in their position?

10. The ability—or inability—to forgive defines many of the characters in the book: from Eddie’s mother’s resistance to moving on, to Sarah’s inability to forgive herself, to Eddie’s crucial final decision on which the entire story hangs. Is it important to be able to forgive? Or are there some things that can never be excused?

Comments

S6-10 Club Discussion Questions: Born a Crime, Trevor Noah

Discussion Guide for Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 1. Trevor Noah opens his memoir with a story about being thrown from a car by his mother. In what ways does this story illustrate the overarching narrative of Trevor Noah’s early life? 2. In Born a Crime, Noah seeks to dispel the myth that the ending of apartheid was bloodless. How much did you know about the end of apartheid before reading this book, and what did you learn about the history of South Africa by reading Noah’s story? 3. One of the most impressive characteristics that Noah conveys about his mother is her faith. How did Patricia’s faith impact young Trevor, and what do you think has been the lasting impression of Patricia’s faith on Trevor Noah’s life? 4. Trevor Noah learned to speak six different languages growing up. What impressed you about the ways that Trevor and his mother navigate neighborhoods, cultures, and family; and how did language make that possible? 5. With all of the c...

S 7.5 - Discussion Questions for Atonement

1. What sort of social and cultural setting does the Tallis house create for the novel? What is the mood of the house, as described in chapter 12? What emotions and impulses are being acted upon or repressed by its inhabitants? How does the careful attention to detail affect the pace of Part One, and what is the effect of the acceleration of plot events as it nears its end? 2. A passion for order, a lively imagination, and a desire for attention seem to be Briony's strongest traits. In what ways is she still a child? Is her narcissism—her inability to see things from any point of view but her own—unusual in a thirteen-year-old? Why does the scene she witnesses at the fountain change her whole perspective on writing? What is the significance of the passage in which she realizes she needs to work from the idea that "other people are as real as you. And only in a story could you enter these different minds and show how they had an equal value" [p. 38]? Do her actions be...

S7.3 The Secret Lives of Colors Discussion

The Secret Lives of Colors by Kassia St. Clair "Colors, therefore, should be understood as subjective cultural creations: you could no more meaningfully secure a precisie universal definition for all the known shades than you could plot the coordinates of a dream" page 27. First of all....ROLE CALL: what is your favorite color! 1. On PRISMS and Newton...and his eye dagger. FUN* (*incredibly disturbing) FACT ALERT! When Newton was 24 he discovered that the color spectrum is contained within white light. YAY! When he was 23, sent home from college because of an outbreak of the plague, he spent that time sticking a bodkin - this small dagger - into his eye. BOO! Newton was famously interested in optics and the nature of light. However, he was also interested in the visual stimulus, and the physiological processes by which objective reality is perceived by us. So, to address this question, Sir Isaac Newton though...

A Better Book Club

Search This Blog