Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett

 

Characters
Nelson family	Our Town – by Thornton Wilder
Lara Kenison Nelson Joe – husband Emily – oldest daughter, future farmer Massie – middle, future veterinarian Nell – youngest, actress   Farm – grew cherries “stone fruit”   Hazel – dog   Masie and Ken – Joe’s aunt and uncle   Benny Holzapetel – Emily’s boyfriend/fiancé	Characters: Stage Manager Emily Webb Mr. and Mrs. Webb Wally Webb George Gibbs Doc and Mrs. Gibbs
Others	Productions at Tom Lake
Sebastian Duke – Peter’s brother, teacher, tennis player and coach   Singularity – movie featuring Lara   Bill Ripley – movie director	Our Town Peter Duke – Editor Webb Lara – Emily – third time playing part Albert Long “Uncle Wallace” – Stage Manager (11th production)   Joe Nelson – director, understudy for Stage Manager, left after play started   Pallace – understudy for Emily   Fool for Love Pallace and Peter Duke

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2023 hardback edition.

1.       Did you have any trouble following the time line?  It took me awhile to figure out that the italicized print was a signal to the reader that the time had changed.

2.       Discuss the various characters.  Which did you like or not like?  What did you think of Peter Duke as a person, as an actor?

3.       Why was Emily so sure that Peter Duke was her father?

4.       Were you surprised at the ending when Duke wanted to be buried at the Nelson’s farm and that he had paid Joe’s aunt and uncle a considerable sum of money to buy the plot?

5.       Did the passage on page 119 about play rehearsals give you any insight into how much work goes into a production?  For example, Lara narrated “We spent hours in a dark theater, saying the same things to the same people again and again, finding ways to make the world new.”

 

6.       The author referenced Moby Dick twice.  Benny loaned his copy to Nell (page 99) and Lara read the book to her grandmother when she could no longer see well enough to read on her own (page 268).  Also, Nell references Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby the Scrivener when someone closed a door in another’s face (page 185).  Why did the author reference Melville and his work three times?

7.       When Lara is telling the girls the family story again, she thinks “Parts of this story they already know, and this is one of them.  The stories that are familiar will always be our favorites” (page 157).  Does your family have any favorite stories they tell over and over?  Does this relate to what we read – do we sometimes like cozy mysteries because we know in the end all will turn out to be fine?

8.       Lara and Joe did not tell their three girls about their earlier lives until they were grown, and Lara still kept a secret from Joe and the girls.  Do you think it is common for parents to have previous secret lives and not share with their families?

9.       How important was knowledge about Our Town to the reader’s appreciation of the novel?

10.   Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?

We Begin at the End, by Chris Whitaker

 

Characters

Radley family: Star – mother Duchess Robin Sissy – Star’s sister, killed by driver as a young child 30 years ago   Vincent King – driver who hit Sissy, Duchess and Robin’s father, in prison   Chief Walker “Walk”   Hal – Duchess and Robin’s grandfather   Dickie Darke – developer Madeline – daughter, in private health care facility, no hope of leaving   Milton – butcher, lived across the street from Star and family, spied on Star, drowned   Brandon Rock – neighborhood watch, lived on street with Star and Milton, pushed Milton out of the boat as a joke   Martha May – Star’s friend in school, lawyer in Bitterwater, family law   Cuddy – prison warden   Dolly – sat with Duchess in church   Thomas Noble – in Duchess’ class, crippled hand   Peter and Lucy Layton – adopted Robin, only wanted one child so did not adopt Duchess

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2020 paperback edition.

1.      Did you understand Vincent – in prison he confessed to killing a fellow prisoner in a fight when he could have called it self-defense?  In the second trial he did not want to just plead guilty and get life in prison, he wanted to go to trial and maybe get the death penalty.

2.      How did you think the accident killing Sissy occurred?  Was the sentence unusually hard for a 15-year-old?  At the trial, it said that Walk “offered up the kind of unabridged truth that sealed his friend’s fate” (page 22).  What did he say?

3.      As you read, particularly pages 82 – 83 where Walk found Vincent sitting in chair beside Star’s body, what did you think happened to Star?

4.      Did you understand Duchess’ reaction to Hal and to moving in with him?  Was there anything Hal or anyone could do to make the move easier for her?

5.      Why did Duchess insist on wearing the new dress that she ripped and cut?

6.      Do you think Duchess will ever eventually reconnect with Robin?  Did she make the best choice to let him be adopted without her? 

7.      Do you think Robin will ever remember what happened with his mother?   Should someone have helped him remember as opposed to risking him remembering later on his own?

8.      Who did you think shot Hal?  When she was approaching the porch, Duchess noticed big footprints in the snow.

9.      After Duchess burnt down the bar she threw away the security tape in a garbage bag in a random bunch of garbage (page 70).   Then at the end on pages 345-346 Walk found the tape in a storage locker owned by Darke but among items owned by Dee Lane.  How was this possible?

10.  In the end Darke confessed to Walke that he shot Hal.  Then Walke shot Darke at his request because he could not get insurance for the club without the security tape and was unable to pay for Madeline’s care.  If dead she would get his life insurance policy.  Walke gave Darke his (Darke’s) gun, Darke aimed wide and shot, and then Walke killed Darke.  Were you surprised at this event?

11.  At the end of the novel, Duchess was going to shoot Vincent (pages 350-351), but instead he backed up to the cliff and jumped.  Were you also surprised at this event?

12.  When Duchess was talking with her mother on the way home from the bar, Duchess said, “I just wish there was a middle, you know. Because that’s where people live. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing…sink or swim like that…Because when you’re sinking, you’re pulling us down with you” (page 42).  Do you agree – do most people just live in the middle?   Do you think Star was capable of making a change in her life?

13.  The title was in the text multiple times.  For example, when Walk took the children to Hal’s he said, “The minister said we begin at the end” (page 97).  Also, when Hal was shot, Duchess got the shotgun, saddled the gray horse and set out the follow the footprints.  As she did so she said, “We begin at the end” (page 224).  What did you think the title meant?

14.  Discuss your reading experience.  Did you like the book?  Would you recommend it to a friend?

The Glassmaker, by Tracy Chevalier

 

Characters
Rosso family: Orsola Marco -older brother Giacomo – younger brother Laura – mother, pregnant in chapter one Lorenzo – father, killed by broken glass fragment Stella – baby born during plague   Zia Giovanna – aunt, nun   Nicolatta – Marco’s wife, died during plague Malcolin – son Raffaele – Nicolatta and Marco’s son born during plague   Monica – Marco’s second wife Rosella – daughter by first marriage, expert glassmaker   Isabella – Monica’s cousin, married Giacomo Sons – Andrea and Sebastiano   Paolo – main assistant, left   Stefano – Marco’s new assistant, married Orsola Angela - daughter   Assistants: Garzonetti – fed furnace and swept floors Garzoni – next step, six-year apprenticeship   Klingenberg – bought Rosso glass, encouraged Orsola to make beads Jonas – assistant, opened own shop when Klingenberg left   Antonio – romance with Orsola, became apprentice in glass workshop, left for terraferma in chapter 3   Domenego -black gondolier for Klingenberg   Maria Barovier – bead maker, real person!	Timeline
	Chapter 1: 1487 – 1494   Chapter 2: 1574 – plague Orsola age 18 Stella and Raffaele born   Chapter 3: 1631 Monica Vianello – wet nurse, married Marco   Isabella – married Giacomo   Stefano -Marco’s servente, from Barovier workshop, wants to marry Orsola   Chapter 4: 1755 Orsola age 29 Giacomo Casanova – ordered mirror, chandelier and glasses, arrested, did not pay   Suggested Orsola make flat beads   Chapter 5: 1797 Orsola age 37 Venice and Murano given to the Austrians Klingenberg closing business and moving Jonas opening own business   Luciana comes from Venice to teach family how to string seed beads – popular with American Indians   Raffaele moves to Venice with Luciana    Chapter 6: 1915 - WWI Orsola age 44 Francisca also in Venice – married Luciana’s brother   Marchesa Luisa Casati – bought beads   Jonas back to Germany, died in concentration camp     WWI – every family had to send one son – Sebastiano volunteered to serve Stella went as a nurse   After war, opened shop with Luciana in Venice – Rosso E Rosso   Chapter 7: 2019 Orsola age 65 100 years have passed Stella died in war   Chapter 8 Orsola in her late 60s Antonio has aged normally because on terrafirma Great-great-great grandson gives Orsola a dolphin – making and sending her one over years has become a tradition in family

 

1.       How different was the plague in 1574 from COVID in 2020?  At least no one burnt all our linens and clothing and threw rocks at our houses!

2.       Did you like the way the novel showed history’s progression, for example the movement from gondolas to water buses in chapter 6 in 1915.

3.       At the end, were you surprised that Antonio had aged like a normal person, and his grandchildren had been making and sending the dolphins?  What do you think his grandchildren thought as they kept sending them off generation after generation to someone they did not know?

4.       Which family members were the most memorable to you?

5.       Was it realistic how easily Orsola handled the changes she experienced through the years or was her life so focused on the glassmaking she wasn’t affected by changes around her?  Given that this is a fiction book, does it matter?

6.       The beads became an important part of the family business in the 1700s – chapters 4 and 5.  How easy was it for the men to give up part of their enterprise and status?  Do you think it might have been more difficult than depicted in the book?

7.       What parts of the book were most memorable to you?

8.       Would you like to live that long and see all the changes in the world?

9.       Have you thought about beads and jewelry you have and how it was made?  Do you have any unusual pieces?

10.   Did you like the book?  Would you recommend it to others to read?

Empire Falls, by Richard Russo

 

Characters
Francine Robideaux Whiting – widow, owns Empire Grill C. B. – husband, deceased, 2nd family in Mexico Cindy – daughter, crippled in accident, loves Miles (born the same day as Miles in same hospital)   Miles Roby – runs diner, will inherit from Francine Christina “Tick” – daughter Janine – wife, getting a divorce, teaches aerobics, lost considerable weight David – brother, crippled arm from accident Parents:  Max – smoker but always borrowed, spit food Grace   Customers: Walt Comeau “The Silver Fox” – engaged to Janine, owns fitness club Horace Weymouth – reporter   High Schook: Candace Burke – Tick’s new friend John Voss – picked on at school Justin Dibble - student Otto Meyer – principal Mrs. Roderigue – art teacher   Charlene – works at diner, divorced four times   Jimmy Minty – police officer, always bumped side of diner when he parked Zack Minty – Tick’s old boyfriend   St. Catherine’s parish: Father Mark Father Tom – dementia, always told what he heard in confessional   Callahan’s Bar – owned by Bea, Janine’s mother	Memory Sections
	Chapter 8: Miles – age 9 – Martha’s Vineyard Mr. Miller – met them at ferry Charlie Mayne – really C. B. Poison ivy   Chapter 14: Miles – junior high school Max lost license and sold car Miles – Driver’s Ed class Mr. Brown – Driver’s Ed teacher and baseball coach Mr. Boniface – principal   Chapter 19: Miles age 9 – home from Martha’s Vineyard Mother pregnant by Max Max home   Chapter 22: Miles – high school sophomore Shirt factory closed Grace working for Mrs. Whiting   Chapter 26: Miles – 4 years after high school graduation   Epilogue: C. B. ran over Cindy Suicide

 

 

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.      Grace was disappointed that Miles came back home – she wanted him to finish college and move on.   Later he felt he had no choice but to stay because of his own child.  David told him, “You claim you are sticking it out for Tick, but do you know what the kid’s going to be if you aren’t careful?  She’ll be the next manager of the Empire Grill” (page 119).  Miles’ response was, “Over my dead body” (page 119).  Is he any different from his mother?  What could he have done differently in the past and in the current time?

2.      Discuss Miles – he ended up asking Cindy out even though he had no intention of doing so.   Also, he was unable to ask Francine about liquor license.

3.      Grace’s life’s philosophy was that it “was a person’s duty on earth, God’s plan – spelled out in the Bible, to make life a little more fair” (page 166).   This is what she thought when she told Miles that he had a special duty toward Cindy after the accident.  How did this idea affect his life? Was this fair to him?

4.      Discuss the other characters – Janine, The Silver Fox, Charlene, Max, and others.  What did they add to the story?   Did the author do a good job describing them?

5.      How well did the author depict the atmosphere in high school?   Was it fair of Mr. Meyer to ask Tick to befriend John Voss?

6.      When John Voss was shooting at the school, why was he going to shoot Tick?  She was his only friend.

7.      What did his habit of hurting dogs and then soothing them tell you about John Voss?  Was there a connection to him being stuffed in a laundry bag and hung from the hook on the closet door?  What could have been done to help him?

8.      On page 124, the author wrote about Horace seeing something, but he did not tell the reader what it was until page 423 (John Voss beating a dog chained to a stake.)  Did that bother you?  Did you make the connection when you read page 423?

9.      After the shooting, when Miles took Tick to Martha’s Vineyard, in the library he was mistaken for a professor or writer.   The author wrote, “To be told, at forty-three, that he looked like what he’s meant to be only increased Miles’ sense of personal failure” (page 468).  Should he have felt this way?  Was his life a failure? 

10.  While on the island he visited the cabin where he and his mother stayed and, in a dream, saw Charlie Mayne.  In the dream he told Miles that he, Miles, had killed his mother. That if it had not been for Miles she would have gone with Mayne.  Do you think this is true?

11.  This book was published in 2001.  What did you think about the references to sex with Janine?  Was it tasteful and important to the story?  How would this have been written today?

12.  Were there any parts you found particularly enjoyable or satisfying?  For example:

a.      Fracine being washed away by the river that C.B. rerouted years ago and with the cat riding on her body.

b.      Max being “sempty.”

c.      Jimmy Minty being arrested for stealing.

13.  Why do you think the author chose such a negative ending?  Did you find anything positive?  If the ending had been more positive would the book have been so successful? 

 

 

Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim

 

Characters

Parkson family: Adam Parson – father Hannah Parks – mother Mia John Eugene – autism and mosaic Angelman syndrome   Detective Morgan Janus   Anjeli Rapari – speech therapist, Dad taking Eugene without telling family   Shannon Haug – lawyer   “TFT”- trainee speech therapist – ACC, augmented and alternate communication – PSW, physically supported writing   Vic – Mia’s boyfriend

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from 2024 paperback edition.

1.      This book has been described as a “multi-layered” mystery and a “missing person thriller” (back cover).   Is that how you would describe the book? 

2.      As you were reading, what did you think happened to Adam?

3.      Discuss the characters of Mia and John.  Do you think Eugene’s analysis was correct?  He told Anjeli that “John is too nice.  He says not talking doesn’t matter but that’s stupid. He’s a bit too much” (page 270).  He wrote of Mia, “A least Mia doesn’t hide.  She thinks being smart is what matters and I’m stupid and worthless” (page 271).

4.      Eugene and Adam had been working with Anjeli three times a week for eight months.  Why didn’t he eventually tell the family?

5.      What did you think about Adam’s “Happiness Quotient” ideas?   Did it make sense to you that the lower your expectations the greater happiness you will have?

6.      How did you feel about the footnotes?  Did you read them or skip them?

7.      What about the differences in how Mia and John were treated when they briefly moved to Korea?  Mia, who looked Korean, was thought to be stupid because she could not speak Korean but John, because he looked more American, was not expected to know the language.

8.      Did you like the science included in the book?  For example, did you know what Occam’s razor was?  The book defined it as “a problem-solving principle of thrift and parsimony” (page 351), meaning that “the simplest answer requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely correct” (page 351).  Had you heard of it before?  Does it apply to the answer of what happened to Adam?

9.      In the author’s notes, she wrote, “Our society – not just the US, but human society in general – equates verbal skills, especially oral fluency, with intelligence” (page 376).  Do you agree?   Will this book make you think differently about people who are not verbally fluent?

10.  What did you think about the difference between the terms “non-verbal” as opposed to “non-speaking?”

11.  When Eugene typed out the story on pages 323 – 324, a lot was from a conversation between Mia and John when Eugene was sleeping between them.  Did he hear and then repeat parts of their conversation?

12.  What did you think about the note between Dad and Eugene in Eugene’s dirty shorts pocket?  Mia was certain that she had washed the shorts.

13.  On page 365 Mia thought she had discovered Adam’s passcode for his phone.  What button do you think she pushed – the one she thought would open the phone or what she thought was the wrong one to permanently disable the phone?

14.  Did you like the fact that the mystery was not wrapped up in the end?  There are a lot of unanswered questions.

15.  Are you glad you read this book?  Did you enjoy the reading process?   Will you recommend it to others?

The Storyteller's Secret, by Sejai Badani

 

Characters
Jaya 2000	Amisha – India in 1930s – 1940s
New York	Storyteller   Deepak – husband Chara – mother-in-law Father-in-law Janna – Deepak’s sister Omi – second wife, did not like Lena   Children: Jay Samir Paresh Lena   Ravi – untouchable, became Amisha’s servant Bina – Ravi’s cousin   British school in village: Amishi taught writing Lieutenant Stephen – tutored Amisha in English Neema – gifted student, set self on fire
Multiple miscarriages   Patrick – husband, separating   Father – doctor, seldom home Lena – mother, deceased Stepmother   When Lena came to America, her stepmother and father told her never to return to India   Amisha - grandmother
India
Ravi  - now head servant Rokie – dog   Amit – great grandson Misha – great granddaughter, crippled with polio

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2018 paperback edition.

1.      Did Amisha have a choice when she discovered that she was pregnant?  Could she have told Stephen the child was his?

2.      What did you think about Deepak keeping Stephen’s letters to Amisha without showing them to her?  Why did he do that?  Was he trying to redeem himself in the end?

3.      Discuss Lena in America.  Why was she so distant from Jaya?  Why didn’t she want the neighbors to know she was the one leaving food on their doorstep on page 184?

 

4.      At the very end, Jaya was reflecting on her mother with new understanding.  She also thought about her decision to keep trying to have a baby even though she kept having miscarriages.  She thought, “If I hadn’t tried, I always would have wondered” (page 383).  Did you understand her thoughts?  If she had had a baby, none of the story would have happened.

5.      As reported in the story, had the caste system in India changed much between the 1930’s – 1940’s in Amisha’ story and the 2000’s in Jaya’s?

6.      The book had a very satisfying ending – Patrick and Jaya reunited, adopting a child, Amit and Misha coming to America, giving the property to Ravi.  What did you like or dislike about it?

7.      As you were reading, what did you think the secret was?  Were you surprised when you learned the answer?

8.      Throughout the novel there were many statements made that I felt were important thoughts such as:

a.      Page 194: “People will forget many things, but they will never forget a person who shows them kindness.”

b.      Page 230: “Your grandmother once wrote a poem about the only thing we take from life to death being the people whose lives we have touched.”

c.      Page 279: Ravi said to Jaya, “Maybe today, in helping to ease others’ pain, you ease a little of your own?”

Were there any statements that stood out to you?

9.      Would you recommend this book to others?  Why or why not?