Book Discussion: The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel

Colossal Labs aims to introduce mammoth genes into the Asian Elephant for conservation purposes. The project claims: "The return of the Woolly Mammoth to the Arctic tundra it roamed thousands of years ago has significant benefits for combating climate change. Mammoths will stir up the icy surface of the landscape, stomp out-thick, low-oxygen trees, and expose healthy, carbon-trapping grasses. That action can restore the tundra, which in turn protects the climate and balances greenhouse gasses."

Read more: https://colossal.com/how-de-extinction-works/#:~:text=The%20return%20of%20the%20Woolly,healthy%2C%20carbon%2Dtrapping%20grasses.

My critiques:

• Dialog is clunky and unbelievable. All three female characters have the same voice and personality. 

Eve’s and Vera’s young lives involve constant travel: “They had grown up on the road, on the move, in countries all over the world. They had been brave, or else they had had no choice.”

What does this nomadic life give to Jane and Sal’s daughters, and what does it take away?
Consider how the family functions when they are abroad versus when they are home in Berkeley. Which lifestyle do you think is better for them as individuals or as a family?
Jane is the only female scientist on her research team. In what ways does her gender hold her back? Do you think this phenomenon is limited to science? What does it mean that Jane’s daughters observe this kind of sexism in action? Do you think Jane would make the same daring choices in response to it all if her daughters weren’t in the picture?


How would you describe Eve and Veras relationship to each other. What do each of them desire in life?

How do Eve and Veras vision of the future differ?

In what ways does Jane fail and succeed at parenting the girls?

• Jane is a woman achieving alongside her family, not in spite of it
• When Pearl is born why isn't Jane documenting anything. Is this a science experiment or just a wild, fun adventure for her?
• On page 121 why all of the sudden does Jane give the girls a pass for drinking but reacts so strongly about Eve being sexually active?
• When Pearl is born Jane is totally unprepared. Has no idea what to feed her.
• Jane is constantly texting Helen about Pearl when Helen is in the hospital with George. She texts as if she is the priority.
• When Jane sends the girls out to get baby formula and coconut milk why didn't she think to tell them to get a bottle too!
• pg 211 the girls escape from the boat with a hole convinced Helen is trying to kill them all only to then go their mom and ask if they can leave her there alone and go find the place their dad died. If they were so concerned why on the next page are they trying to leave their mom alone with perceived danger?
• Jane avoids ever asking for her husbands police report of his death. Why?

Okay WTF is up on page 123 with Eve artificially inseminating herself with caveman DNA. Was that believable?

Also WTF is up on page 180 when Jane instinctually tried to breast feed Pearl?

Describe Vera’s relationship with Lars. In what ways does this teenage romance point to shifting dynamics between Eve and Vera? Jane’s reaction to learning that they are dating causes Vera to do something very unusual with the remnants of her father’s research. What do you think she is trying to prove to her mother—and more importantly, to herself?


For a nonspeaking character, Pearl plays an essential role in this story. What did Pearl make you feel? What did she symbolize for you? What do Eve’s and Vera’s reactions to Pearl show us about their feelings toward their mother and their status in the family?


Do you think Helen was trying to kill the girls by sending them out on a boat with a hole in it? What motives would she have?


What events lead Eve and Vera to start becoming distrustful and suspicious of Helen and george?


Did The Last Animal make you think at all differently about the history or future of the planet?

What do you think of the idea of bringing back extinct species? What might happen if science takes gene editing more into its own hands?

Book Discussion: Death Valley. by Melissa Broder

Has anyone been to the Mojave dessert or Death Valley?

How did you find the short chapters in the book?

What were some memorable humorous moments in the novel?

On page 1, the narrator’s friend texts her this philosophical quote from Kierkegaard: “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” How does this idea resonate throughout the rest of the book? How can we as humans embrace that philosophy?

What is the narrator’s relationship with her father like? Consider the quote: “It is easier to have an intimate relationship with the unconscious than the conscious, the dead than the living. As my father slumbered, I created a fantasy version of him --- resurrecting the man from my youth” (page 4). How does this fantasy of her father come to play a role in the novel?

What does the giant cactus represent to the narrator?

• asylum for both her greatest wishes and everything she was attempting to escape.

How does this novel of transformation in wilderness solitude differ from other books within that genre like Wild or A Walk in the Woods?

• sometimes the peace of solitude can reveal horrors

What are some of the coping mechanisms the narrator uses to deal with her father's convalescence?

Why do you think the author chose to not reveal the narrators name?

What do you think is the difference between empathy and compassion? Which is harder to achieve?
empathy-when we experience the same thing or feel what another person is feeling. We need to pur ourselves in their shoes to relate. Compassion you don't need to put yourself in their shoes in order to have sympathy.

 
On page 59 the narrator says "realization: love is not always a feeling, sometimes its a verb." What does the narrator mean by that?

In chapter 18, Jethra brings up the five love languages when talking about her own father’s passing. What is your love language?

On page 56 the narrators says “Being human, always new things to forgive”. Where do we see forgiveness in the novel?

Have you ever found yourself in a dangerous situation because you underprepared? How did you handle it?

At one point while lost, our narrator remarks: “It dawns on me then that I must really want to live. And it surprises me” (page 162). How does a brush with her own mortality influence her outlook on life?

What was your impression of the narrator’s novel-in-progress? Why do you think she is stuck figuring out the “desert section”? Does her own time in the desert lead to some sort of epiphany?

Throughout DEATH VALLEY, the protagonist longs to feel less alone and talks to receptionists, anonymous Reddit users and even rocks. What does she get out of these interactions? Why is it sometimes easier to talk to strangers than the people we love? Do you think the talking rocks are an example of magical realism or a fabrication of our lonely narrator’s imagination?

Book Discussion: The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

On page 241-242 Greta confronts the readers and asks "why is it impossible to be a woman?" She states that men are always free to be themselves and asks "When has a woman ever been forgiven?" In our modern society how does it differ between a man or a woman receiving forgiveness? Is one gender easier to forgive? Is one gender more permanently harmed from making mistakes?

Did Dr. Cerletti's electroconvulsive therapy work on Greta? In the beginning he tells her "what they are trying to do is bring her back."

If you were able to transmigrate to two other versions of yourself in a time before our own, which two time periods or years would you travel to?

What do you think drove Greta to continue the treatments and travel back in time? What was she trying to accomplish?

Where there any discrepancies in the science of the time travel in this book that bothered you or took away from your enjoyment of it?

In the beginning of the novel on page 8 Felix asks a neighbor who was reprimanding him and Greta  "When you were a little girl, madam," he said, gesturing to her, "was this the woman you dreamed of becoming?" How did this foreshadow other events in the novel?

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Over April break we are doing a parent-child book discussion of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. This is through funding from the New York State Council on the Humanities Together Grant.

I am having a hard time coming up with a hands-on project for the discussion. A couple weeks ago we read Skellig by David Almond and dissected Owl Pellets so hopes are high from the kids. I have go tot top that event!

I am having some success gleaning ideas from birthday party guides online. But if you have any suggestions I could use the help, comment below!

• Serve Turkish Delights (had to buy on Amazon.com, no local stores carried)
• Serve tea sandwiches and lemonade
• Dress as the White Witch
• Kinda lame but I was thinking of putting our coat rack on wheels in front of the entrance to the discussion and filling with coats and jackets so participants will have to squeeze through the coats to make it into the room.
• Decorate cupcakes to look like a lion (Aslan) face
• Narnia Paper craft

Questions

• When Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus in the woods she befriends him despite his appearance. Parents, have you ever been judged or judged someone by their appearance and your frist impression was wrong?
• What makes someone a hero? What about a villain? Which is Edmund?
• Lots of fairytales include some sort of a door from this world into another world. Can you think of any other stories like this? Have you ever imagined being able to step out of this world into another one?
• Why do you think there is a lampost near the wardrobe entrance in Narnia.
• Have you read any other books where one must pass through a magical portal to enter another world?
• Do you think Lucy's brothers and sister should have believed her story about the wardrobe? Would you believe Lucy's story?
• What would you ask for if the queen offered you your favorite food?
• Lewis says that “there’s nothing that spoils the taste of good ordinary food half so much as the memory of bad magic food.” Have you ever spoiled your taste for something by doing something you shouldn’t have done?
• What is the significance of the thaw and the coming of spring?
• When Edmund calls out to the Witch, begging her not to turn the little creatures into stone, Lewis tells us that “for the first time in this story” he “felt sorry for someone besides himself.” Do you know what it’s like to feel so sorry for yourself that you don’t notice anybody else?
• Have you ever tried to tell someone the truth but they didn't believe you? How did this make you feel?
• At the end of the story Lucy, Susan, and Peter forgive Edmund very quickly when they are reunited. Would you be so forgiving?
• The group decides not to tell Edmund about Azlan's sacrifice to free him. Was this the right decision? Would it have hurt or helped Edmund?