Book Discussion: The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

Which themes in The Wind Knows My Name did you connect with the most, and how did they affect your personal experience of the book?

We experience the Night of Broken Glass as it happens to the Adler family. Was there anything that surprised you about this act of terror that you hadn’t known? 

Music saves Samuel. Why do you think music transcends tragedy and comfort souls?

How much did you know about the El Mozote (pronounce El Mowzote) massacre before reading this book? Why do you think this tragedy isn’t widely known in America?*

After Samuel moved to California, his wife Nadine opened up their “enchanted mansion” to bohemians, frustrated artists, and simple wanderers, causing a rift in the marriage. Which side did you fall on and why?

Did you have strong feelings about the U.S. border policies before reading this novel? Did anything about those feelings change after reading it?

Reflect on Samuel and Nadine’s 55-year marriage. Why do you think it lasted, despite the divorces and infidelities?

Why did Samuel at embrace Anita and Leiticia so thoroughly? 

Do you think Samuel ever fully worked through his trauma from his past?

Anita creates an alternative world called Azabahar. What does this place mean to her and the people around her?

How do the different characters in the book cope with trauma?

Did the ending surprise you? Were you expecting the characters to converge the way they did?

A common thread running through the various characters is trauma. Samuel. Leticia. Anita. How do you think each handled their tragic experiences? How did they persevere?

 How did you feel at the end of The Wind Knows My Name? What did you take away from reading this novel?

Book Discussion: Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

What are some common threads among the stories in this book?

• Women making questionable choices
• Chinese american women
• disconnection, isolation
• immigration
• breaking free of expectations

Did you notice any tonal similarities or differences in the narrators?

Los Angeles- A woman lives in a house with her husband, kids and 100 ex boyfriends.

-Why does the narrator stay so attached to her ex boyfriends?

-What does Adam, her abusive ex mean to her? Why does she still want him in her life?

Oranges-Narrator follows her abusive ex boyfriend home in order to confront him.

G-Two women take a drug that turns you invisible.

-Is the friendship in this story ever a healthy one?

Yetti Lovemaking-A woman goes home with a man she meets at a bar only to discover he is a Yetti

-Reads like a greek myth or a modern day folktale

-Is the story her telling her ex about the Yetti or is it her own inner narrative?

-Do you think her mating call really caused her ex to reach out to her?

Returning-Woman travels to the country of her husbands birth only to wake up on the plane with him gone.

-What did Peter want to change as a result of being buried at the festival?

Office Hours-A professor discovers a portal to another world hidden within her campus office.

Marie teaches a class called "the disappearing woman."

-What is this place?

-Did she leave behind herself or a doppleganger?

Peking Duck-Writer is creating a story based on her mother's experiences as a nanny. 

-Who does the story belong to? The mother or the daughter? On page 176 the question is asked " Can the writer, who's retelling anothers story, really assume authorship?"

Tomorrow-Woman is pregnant with a child whos arm is growing out of her body.

Homestead by Melinda Moustakis

What is this novel about?

learning to trust, the wild inside us, sense of self
How did you find the pacing of this book?

Do you think you would have been able to homestead in Alaska?

How do you understand Marie and Lawrence’s decision to get married? What are their expectations of the marriage? How do those expectations hold up once they are actually living together?

What do Marie and Lawrence each hope for from the homestead? What does it represent to them?

Homestead is structured around the seasons, with each chapter taking place over the course of a month. How do the cycles of a year shape the novel’s form and plot?

Discuss Marie’s relationship with her sister, Sheila. How are their lives similar and different, especially their marriages?

Discuss the portrayal of Alaska in this novel. Did it surprise you or change the way you think about the state? If so, how? How much of the story is tied into the landscape. Would this story have worked in a different setting?

Homestead is set in the 1950s, when there were often strict gender norms that shaped one’s place in the world. How do Marie and Lawrence conform to those norms, and how do they thwart them? Were there any aspects of their characterizations that surprised you?

Both Marie and Lawrence express ownership/command of the land in different ways.“shadows of mountains beyond the dark line of the low and unseen water, and a stretch of dusky sky, a pale yellow and lavender, and a thick stir of clouds with sweeps of fire and fireweed, and who could say this was not meant for her?” How do their perspectives differ?

Over the course of two years, Marie and Lawrence witness the push for Alaskan statehood and are in Anchorage when the official announcement comes through. How are their lives affected by statehood? Discuss the ways in which the political and the domestic are woven together in this novel.

Why do you think Marie named their baby after herself.

Lawrence is haunted by his experiences during the Korean War, and compares his night terrors to a swarm of mayflies. What effect did military service have on him? How does it influence his relationship with Marie?

Why does Lawrence decide to sign the deed without Marie, despite his promise? Do you sympathize at all with his action?

How do you understand Marie’s decision to forgive Lawrence and continue their life together? What do you think the future holds for them?

Book Discussion: Moonrise Over New Jessup

How did you find the pacing of the book?

Though Alice, her friends, and family refer to New Jessup as a “town,” it was never formally incorporated as a municipality after the 1903 riot. Technically, this would make it a Black settlement. Why do you think it was important to Raymond and the rest of the members of the New Jessup NNAS to incorporate New Jessup into its own city?

Why do you believe that Raymond wanted Alice to stop working outside the home? What as your reaction when he had her fired?

Alice mentions wanting to vote, but that she is unwilling to “wear out her shoe leather” just to cast a ballot for the same candidates that are always on the ballot. Why do you think she took this position?

The townsfolk reject the NNAS in their town and the efforts to bring integration to New Jessup. Why do you think this is? Are there issues today that people are resistant to "agitate?"

Percy and Raymond were both resistant to coming home to New Jessup after spending time in the larger world. Raymond ultimately moves back and after a point so does Percy despite claiming he wouldn't. What drew him home?

Why do you think Raymond considers the theft of his sister Regina’ shoes the worst part of the altercation at the Montgomery bus station?

What do you think happened to Alice's sister Rosie? What does she represent in the story?

What role does sisterhood and the black female identity play in the novel?

What are the costs of integration for the black community?

In the novel Red Lining, the act of refusing a bank loan to those who live within a certain geographic area is mentioned as a different way to segregate in more liberal parts of the country. In our modern day society what are some ways we still segregate?

Towards the end of the novel Patience challenges Alice when her and Raymond visit DC. Does Patience make any valid points about Alice's position on equal rights and segregation?

Where there some exceptionally poignant moments in the book that effected you?

What are your thoughts on the author's writing style?

Book Discussiom: Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

 Do you have any theories on how the affliction started in the first place?

How are the townsfolk able to live without understanding the affliction?

The people of the town speculate as to why certain mothers may have disappeared. Why did the mothers disappear? Was there a common bond amongst them?

What notions of motherhood does this book bring up? Does it challenge any of your own views on motherhood?

When did you first realize Ruth’s true identity?

Discuss the townswomen’s practice of pricking their mates with a silver hairpin, which they always have in their hair, during sex, and then sucking their blood from the wound. Does this practice exist in isolation, or does it impact other aspects of the story?

What do the childless women in the town represent? What is their place in the town? In the story? What questions does this book provoke about women who lie outside a given norm?

Mr. Philips says he wonders whether the town exists “because we require it.” What does he mean by this, and is it true?

What role does photography play in the book?

Do you believe Vera made the right decision in leaving?

In what ways did motherhood change Vera?

 

Book Discussion: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

A woman in upstate New York who works transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach becomes infatuated with one of his clients, a repressed married woman from Switzerland who has a refreshing attitude towards trauma.

Have you ever been to Hudson, NY? How would you describe it? Similar or different from the author?

What does the beehive inside the house represent? Is there a metaphor buried there? (maggots at the heart of the hive)

In the beginning of the book we learn that Greta was diagnosed with Emotional Attachment Disorder by a therapist. (a behavioral disorder that effects the ability to form and maintain relationships.) In what ways does this manifest in her relationship with Big Swiss?

When speaking with OM about her trauma Big Swiss says on page 8 "I'm not attached to my suffering. I'm not attached to what happened to me. I don't believe it explains everything about me, because I haven't made it part of my identity. I'm a worker, not a wallflower. I would never call myself a "survivor" I'm just -not one of those trauma people." Is trauma something you think a person can ever get over? Does making trauma part of your identity hold you back or fuel you?

On page 79 Big Swiss says she accepts some responsibility for her attack because she went to his house on his own volition and ignored her instincts.  Does society condition victims to think they were players in their own trauma? What are your thoughts on this? 

On p. 247 Greta mentions Big Swiss might have something to teach her about living. To "eradicate self-pity and replace it with something productive." How do you think one can actually accomplish that?

Did you find OM an effective therapist?

Big Swiss was not able to orgasm for her whole life until the mid-point of the book. She describes masturbating to images of flowers. Is this just a metaphor or do you think there is something deeper there?

What do you think drew Big Swiss to Greta?

Throughout their affair what traits or behaviors do Greta and Big Swiss bring out in each other?

Was Greta obscuring her true identity from Big Swiss an ethical violation? How would you have handled it if you were Greta?

On page 216 at the dinner party with Luke Big Swiss says that the Swiss "like to keep each other in check. Americans could never handle that, because they're such infants, and so easily rattled. They can't ride the train without getting their feelings hurt. They can't walk down the street without being offended." Do you think this is true of Americans? If so why is that?

There are times that Greta seems to be hostile or antagonizing to Big Swiss. Where does that behavior come from? P. 232 Big Swiss tells her her tough girl routine is transparent.

What did you think of the ending?