9.4 T H E T E N T H O U S A N D D O O RS O F J A N U A R Y

T H E T E N T H O U S A N D D O O RS O F J A N U A R Y

- Questions courtesy of The Gloss Book Club

1. Did you enjoy the book? Rate it from 1 - 5.

2. Do you normally read fantasy?Is this a book you would you have chosen yourself?

3. The Ten ThousandDoors of January could be described as a coming-of-age novel.

How does January change overthe course of the novel? What does she learn?

4.In what way does Cornelius Locke treat January as one of his specimens?

5. The main events of the plot take place in 1911. Why do you think the book is

set in this time period? How would the story change if it was set earlier orlater?

6. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is written as a book within a book. Why do

you think the author decided to frame the story this way? How does it relate to

the themes surrounding doors?

7. January and her friends read a lot of early-twentieth-century fiction: boys'

adventure stories, serialized novels, and story papers. How do those stories

influence the way she sees the world and the way she sees herself?

8. Some of the characters in the novel long for escape, while others long to

return home. How do these two desires overlap and compete? Do you think

this is a book about finding ways out or about finding ways back home?

9. "The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I

wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because

it would be rude to interrupt." Do you think this sentiment is true today? What

contemporary political and social parallels can be found within the novel?

10. If you came upon a magical door that opened to a different world, what

would you like that world to be like?

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