The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah

 

Characters

Vianne Mauriac Antoine – husband, drafted Sophie – daughter, stuffed bear Bebe (gave to Ari) Julian – son   Isabelle Rossignol– Vianne’s sister, always sent away to school after mother died Juliette Gervaise – false name, took downed airmen across the mountains to safety   Rossignol -father, forger for underground   Rachel de Champlain – Vianne’s best friend, taught together, Jewish Sarah – daughter, shot by Germans Ari – infant son, given to Vianne to save, “Daniel”   Gaetan Dubois “Gaet” - helped saved downed airmen, romance with Isabelle   Paris underground: Monsieur Levy Gaet Anouk Henri – ran hotel in town Didier   Captain Holfgang Beck – lived with family, good to family, killed by Vianne to save Isabelle   Sturmbannfuher Von Richter – second soldier living with Vianne, raped her

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2017 paperback edition.

1.      Discuss the various characters.  Were there any that you keep thinking about after you finished the book?  How did Isabelle’s childhood prepare her for her work with the resistance?

2.      Were you surprised when you read that Vianne and Isabelle’s father was really working for the resistance and that is why, toward the end of the novel, he did not want Isabelle around?

3.      When Vianne discovered Isabelle and the dead airman in the hiding place in the garage (page 372), should she have asked more questions or was her reaction to yell at Isabelle understandable?

4.      What do you think prompted Captain Beck to search Vianne’s house and subsequently find Isabelle, thus leading to Vianne killing him?  Did Vianne suddenly look guilty when he was talking about not finding the downed pilot and how that would hurt his reputation?

5.      Were you able to understand the complicated relationship between Vianne and Beck?  He basically was a good man and did things to help such as getting Ari papers so he was saved.  Also, the family would have greatly suffered without his help with food.

6.      When Beck asked Vianne for the names of teachers at the school, did she have any choice but to comply?  This basically insured that Rachel would be sent to a concentration camp.

7.      Did you like the ending?  Were you surprised to learn that Vianne had saved 19 Jewish children.

8.      Discuss your reading experience.   How did you approach the difficult subject in the book?  Would you recommend the book to a friend?

All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

 

Characters

“Patch” Joseph Macauley Ivy – mother   Saint – career in law enforcement, devoted much of life to finding Patch Norma – grandmother   Misty Meyer – Patch saved her from attack Mary - grandmother   Chief Nix   Dr. Tooms – in jail for taking girls   Eli Aaron – photographer, did high school pictures – admitted to taking girls, stabbed Patch and help captive Grace – daughter, visited Patch when he was held by Aaron   Jimmy Walters – married to Saint   Sammy – Monta Clare Fine Art – displayed and sold Patch’s paintings, gave him studio space to paint   Candice and Nicholas Addis – adopted Theodore, Saint and Jimmy’s child (although Saint told Jimmy she had an abortion)   Charlotte -daughter of Misty and Patch

Timeline of the sections

1975 – 1 and 2 1976 1978 1982 1983 ·       Patch searching for Grace across country.  Robbing banks.  Saint found, shot him and he ended in jail. 1990 ·       Misty died of cancer, gave Patch sole custody of Charlotte 1995 ·       Aaron alive – bought more rosary beads 1998 ·       Patch in jail for punching and accidentally killing Jimmy Walters, escaped ·       Rearrested at Aaron’s barn by Saint after he shot Aaron to save her ·       Saint – Chief of Monta Clare Police Department 2001 ·       Patch missing, on sailboat in Outer Banks

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       There were a lot of characters in the novel.   Which ones did you find most interesting?  How did you keep everyone straight?

2.       After Patch saved Misty and he was rescued, she kept wanting to be with him.   After a while he told her, “You’ve done it now Misty.  You reached out and I’m grateful and all…It’s just a reminder that things aren’t right with your world” (page 80).  She asked what she should do, and Patch answered, “you go back to your side of the street, Misty” (page 80).  Do you think she was relieved or sad to finally quit and move on?

3.       What did you think of Sammy and his art gallery?  He encouraged Patch to paint and then eventually Charlotte.

4.       What did you think about Marty Tooms, the doctor.   Where you surprised to read that he really was innocent except for doing secret abortions to help the high school girls?  Were you also surprised to learn that he was in a relationship with Chief Nix?

5.       The author lives in London. Being from Pittsburgh, what did you think when you read the reference to Mister Rogers, Lady Aberlin and Joe Negri on page 163.   The author obviously felt they had world-wide appeal and would be recognized by anyone.  Do you think the reference was taken differently by Pittsburghers compared to other readers not from this area?

6.       There was a lot about loss in this novel.  For example, on page 68, when talking with her grandmother, “Saint wanted to ask what it was like, to lose the thing that defined you.  But perhaps she knew: it left you someone else.”  Did this offer any insights to your thinking about loss?  How did this play out in the rest of the story?  Who else experienced loss – or did no one in the book escape it?

7.       Did you like the part where Patch escaped from jail with the help of all the people working there who were connected to the missing girls that he helped find?  (Owen Williams who cut power line was Lucy’s father, Patch found Cooper Strike’s missing sister and brought her home.)

8.       In chapters 252 and 253, Patch shot Aaron to save Saint who then arrested him, probably because he was an escapee.  What do you think happened between then and 2001 when Patch was in the sailboat?

9.       If he could have, do you think Patch would have gone back to Grace?

10.   What was your reading experience?  Did you sometimes skip ahead, maybe at some point read the ending?  Did you have trouble keeping the characters, the dead girls, and their parents straight?  Could the book have been shorter?

11.   Why is this book so popular?

Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney

 

Characters

Peter Koubek – older brother, lawyer Sylvia Larkin – professor, chronic pain Naomi – college student   Ivan Koubek – younger brother, chess champion Margaret Kearns – Peter’s age, runs arts and recreation center   Father – died of cancer at beginning of story   Christine – mother, left family when Ivan was 5 Frank – new husband Darren – son, 3 ½ years older than Ivan   Alexei – dog

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: All page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.      There were a very small number of important characters in the novel.  How well did the author develop their personalities and feelings?  Which ones did you feel connected to?  Which ones would you have liked to know?

2.      Did you like the author’s writing style – no quotation marks, short incomplete sentences,  (see page 68 when describing Peter’s drug use), very long paragraphs sometimes four pages?  Was her writing style effective to the topic of the book?

3.      Grief was a major topic running throughout the novel, particularly with Peter.  How did the author handle this topic?  Was she effective?

4.      The author addressed other heavy subjects such as what work has value (page 107) and Jesus vs. God (pages 189-190).  Did this add to the novel for you or was it a distraction?

5.      Ivan was concerned about the environment and therefore would not fly or wear new clothes except for underwear?  What did that tell you about his character?

 

6.      Peter and Sylvia were in a serious relationship when Sylvia’s accident happened.  She told him she was not going to ruin his life and to leave.   At that point Peter threw a candlestick to the ground and eventually contemplated suicide.  Could this situation have been saved or handled differently?

7.      Peter also had a falling out with Ivan and stopped all contact with him.  Were these things Peter’s fault?  Should others have seen what a difficult time he was having after his father’s death and helped him?

8.      In the end, Peter and Sylvia decide to go ahead with what feels right to them which involved including Naomi in their relationship.  And then Margaret and Peter decide that perhaps all five will spend Christmas together and not worry about what others will think.  Do you think this will work?

9.      This book received multiple awards and mentions including being a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Book of the Year, Associated Press Top 10 Books of the Year, a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times and others.  Why do you think it received so much attention?  Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?

The Women, by Kristin Hannah

 

Characters
Frances Grace McGrath Bette – mother Father Finley – brother, killed in Vietnam
Vietnam – late 1960’s	US - early 1970’s
Thirty-Sixth Evac Hospital   Major Wendy Goldstein – chief nurse   Roommates: Ethel Flint Barb Johnson   Dr. Jamie Callahan – doctor in OR Sarah - wife   Rye Walsh – Finley’s friend, Army officer, shot down and presumed dead Melissa – wife Affair with Frankie while on leave in Hawaii   Pleiku – Seventy-First Evac, near Cambodian border Frankie transferred here October 1967   My Lai massacre March 1968 Lt. William Calley convicted	Rye – not killed in action   Drunk driving and hit man on bicycle – lost nursing license   Inpatient therapeutic drug and alcohol treatment facility: Henry Acevedo – psychiatrist, met at protest   Dr. Alden – specializes in Vietnam vets   Frankie pregnant with Henry, planning to get married, miscarriage, wedding called off - 1972   PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – new and controversial   The Last Best Place – 1974, ranch in Missoula, Montana: Donna Janet Other women who had been to Vietnam   Master’s in clinical psychology – Frankie and Donna   1982 – Vietnam Memorial dedicated Met Dr. Jamie Callahan   1983 – Vietnam Women’s Memorial

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.      When Frankie’s first tour was coming to an end, she re-upped.  Why do you think she did that?

2.      Were you surprised that the Veteran’s Administration would not treat Frankie in the early 1970’s?  They said it was only for veterans who had seen action.  What was the difference between the action seen by soldiers in the field and the wounds seen by the nurses in the hospitals?

3.      Did you understand the difficulties Frankie had when trying to reenter into her old life?  Do you think it would be possible to not have difficulty?

4.      Ethel and Barb seemed to reenter their lives easier than Frankie.   Why do you think this was?

5.      Frankie did not tell her parents she was coming home, she just walked into the house and surprised them.   Were you surprised at their reactions?   Would it have been different if they had known she was coming?

6.      Did you understand why her parents lied about where she was?   Why was it not admirable for women to go to Vietnam?

7.      Given the time period, what did you think about Frankie not being included in her father’s “Wall of Honor” until she was planning to get married?

8.      Did you learn anything new about the war and how the men and women were treated after coming home?

9.      Discuss your reading experience.  What were you doing in your life during the Vietnam War?  Were you aware of the controversy?

10. In the author’s note on page 471, the author said that when she was in elementary school, she got Colonel Robert John Welsh’s POW bracelet and wore it for several years.  That was the same name on the POW bracelet Frankie got on page 301 during the protest in Washington DC in 1971.  What were some of the small details from the novel that you remember and that you thought were meaningful?

11. How would this book have been received 10 years ago?  Would it be as popular?

 

The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson

 

South	North
Prior to 1861
General P. R. T. Beauregard – commanded all South Carolina military – stationed across bay from Ft. Sumter   Charleston – center of slave trade   James Henry Hammond – 300 slaves 1835 – U. S. House of Representatives Improper behavior with nieces Slave Sally Johnson – mistress 1857 – U. S. Senate   1854 - Senator Stephen Douglas Kansas-Nebraska Act – new territories should decide themselves about slavery   Edmund Ruffin – planter aristocracy, after Lincoln’s election traveled through South to promote succession   James Chestnut – U. S. Senator, resigned seat to protest Lincoln’s election Mary – wife, kept journal, enjoyed social aspect of husband’s career   Frances Pickens - South Carolina governor, seized all other forts and property in Charleston Harbor   General P. G. T. Beauregard – commanded all South Carolina military   Senator Stephen Douglas   Code Duello – rules for how to deal with offenses	Charleston Harbor Major Robert Anderson – commander Ft. Sumter, December 1860 brought all troops to Fr. Sumter and destroyed Ft. Moultrie   Col. John L. Gardner – commander of US Army forces in Charleston   Fort Moltrie – 4 miles east of Charleston, vulnerable   1851 – “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”   1858 – Abraham Lincoln – “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”   President Buchanan 1857 – 1961 Blamed North for problems because it gave slaves ideas about freedom.   Secretary of War Floyd
1861 and beyond
Jefferson Davis – president of Confederate States of America Varina – wife   Alexander Stephens – Vice President   Mary Chestnut – topic of gossip due to “flirtation” with former governor Manning   Edmund Ruffin – fired first shot against Ft. Sumter	Allan Pinkerton – detective agency, warned of assassination attempt in Baltimore on Lincoln’s way to inauguration Kate Warne – chief female detective   Star of the West – ship to reinforce Ft. Sumter – turned back   Ft. Sumter: Major Anderson – in charge Captain Foster – chief engineer, designed fortifications Assistant Surgeon Crawford   Seward – Secretary of State   Sir William Howard Russell – reporter from London Times

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.      Did you like the inclusion of the “Code Duello,” otherwise known as “The Code of Honor or Rules for the Government of Principals and Seconds in Duelling?” How did this add to book?  Did it apply to what was happening between the North and the South?

2.      At Fort Moultrie, Captain Thomas Seymour gave Major Anderson a three-page memo on how he thought the fort could be defended.   The author said that Seymour was “a particularly acute observer” because at West Point he had taken a drawing class.  Do you agree with this connection – did skill at drawing increase his ability to observe things?

3.      The author wrote about Lincoln’s inauguration, “…the ineffectual James Buchanan, had let all this come to pass without making any substantive effort to stop it” (page 298).  Was there anything Buchanan could have done or was the split and consequent war inevitable?

 

4.      In explaining the differences in opinion about slavery, the author wrote, “…the thing that the South most resented was the unalterable fact that the North, like the rest of the modern world, condemned slavery as a fundamental evil.  In so doing, abolitionists and their allies impinged the honor of the entire Southern white race, for if slavery was indeed evil, then the South itself was evil” (page 196).  He went on to explain that the South thought slavery was “a positive good…endorsed by the Bible” (page 196), and therefore the owners were good.  Could you understand their thought process?

5.      What did all the information about Mary Chestnut add to the story?  She had 26 references in the index (compared to 17 for John) and her two diaries are cited in the list of references.  In addition, the author mentioned the diaries in the Acknowledgements.

6.      What was the point about Mary’s flirtations with John Manning?  Why was this included several times?

7.      Did you like when the author told you what would happen to a person later?  For example, he told the reader that Col. George E. Picket would “lead an ill-fated charge at Gettysburg” on page 382.

8.      The bulk of the book was about Ft. Sumter.  How did this add to your understanding of the Civil War?

9.      Could you understand Robert E. Lee’s conflict of interest and subsequent decision to join the Confederate Army even though he was against slavery?

10. Why do you think the author chose to end the book in the last paragraph with Edmund Ruffin’s suicide?

11. Did reading this book give you any new insights into the Civil War or to the issue of slavery vs. equality?

12. Did you like the format of the book – the almost day-to-day telling of the story?

The Life Impossible, by Matt Haig

 

Characters

Grace Winters Karl – husband, deceased Daniel – son, deceased   Christina Papadakis van der Berg – friends with Grace as a young adult Johan – husband Lieke van der Berg – daughter, musician   Alberto Ribas - biologist Marta – daughter, astrophysicist and environmentalist   Art Butler – Eighth Wonder resorts   Sofia Torres – politician   “La Presencia”   Francisco Palau – priest, saw the arrival of La Presencia in 1855, disappeared in ocean like Christina, left handwritten biography in church   Es Vedra – rock formation in ocean offshore of Ibiza   Maurice Augustine – Grace’s former student, recipient of letter/story

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.      Discuss Grace.  When she came to Ibiza, she “sincerely believed I wasn’t a good person who deserved happiness” (page 71).  How did she change and grow throughout the novel?  Were you able to understand how she felt about Daniel’s death?  

2.      How did Grace being a mathematician influence her character in the story?

3.      Discuss the other characters, particularly Alberto and Christina.  Were you able to connect to them and understand their motivations?

 

4.      Did you like all of the references to math?  Did that add to or subtract from the story line for you?  For example:

a.      Page 49 – “Politics and sociology and history and psychology have facts you have to interpret.  But in mathematics, facts are just facts.”

b.      Page 314 – “it was only recently that she understood why the subject (math) was such therapy for her. It is because, in mathematics, you realise that balance and symmetry is actually in everything, even when it feels like chaos and pain.”

5.      What did you think at the beginning of the story when the olive jar magically refilled with liquid and glowed?

6.      When Grace was examining Francisco Palau’s manuscript, she thinks “I suppose that is one of the purposes of all reading.  It helps you live lives beyond the one you are inside” (page 173).  She compared reading to time travel and writes “It connects us to everyone and everywhere and every time and every imagined dream” (page 173).  Have you had these experiences when reading?  If so, what was a memorable one?

7.      There are a lot of miscellaneous things referenced in the book: Miss Marple (page 70), Sherlock Holmes (page 66), the Bible (page 182), reading, and mathematics throughout.  Did they add to the story for you?  Why do you think the author did that?

8.      Did you like the format of the novel being a letter to Maurice? 

9.      Was the end of the story satisfying to you?  For example, when Grace collapsed at the press conference, she had a vision where she was talking with Daniel when he told her to let her guilt go.  Also, the cormorants and a man o’ war jelly fish came ashore and killed Art.

10. Why do you think Alberto decided to die a human death as opposed to swimming through the portal?

11. On page 226 in the chapter “Islands Don’t Exist,” Grace thinks, “We need to look after each other.  And when it feels like we are truly, deeply alone, that is the moment when we most need to do something in order to remember how we connect.”  Do you think the author is sending this message to the reader or is it just part of Grace’s character?

Long Island, by Colm Toibin

 

United States – Long Island

Ireland - Enniscorthy

Eilis Fiorello Tony – husband Larry Rosella – headed to law school   Francesca – Tony’s mother Mauro – father   Enzo – brother Lena – wife   Mauro – brother Clara – wife   Frank – youngest brother, lawyer   Mr. Dakessian – owns garage, Armenian Erik – son Lusin – daughter   Irish man at door – wife pregnant by Tony, baby will be dropped off when born, to be adopted by Francesca, named Helen Frances

Jim Farrell – bar, dated Eilis before Nancy   Nancy Sheridan – chip shop Husband - deceased Miriam – daughter, getting married Gerard – son Laura – daughter, law school   Matt – Miriam’s fiancé Mrs. Wadding - mother   Eilis Mother Martin – brother Jack – brother, son Dominick Pat – brother, son Aidan Rose – sister who died 20 years ago   Jim’s bar: Shane Nolan – bartender Andy – bartender, brought sports oriented friends to bar Colette – Shane’s wife

 

For Discussion:

1.      Do you think Eilis would consider leaving Tony if the baby had not happened?

2.      What did Eilis think would happen when she shows up after 20 years and wants to totally change her mother’s house?  Why could she not see things from her mother’s perspective?

3.      Also, her mother decided to go home with Eilis and went so far as to look into airplane tickets without saying anything to Eilis. Why would she do this? Why was there a lack of communication in the family?

4.      Why did Eilis’ mother only display photos of her local grandchildren?   She had Larry and Rosella’s photos carefully preserved.

5.      Did you understand how Eilis always felt like an outsider in Long Island?   Have you ever experienced that feeling?  Should Tony and his family have seen that?  What could they have done to make her feel more a part of the family?

6.      Why did Eilis keep her two lives totally separate?   Tony knew nothing about Jim and vice versa. 

7.      Twenty years ago, when she first visited, why did she just leave without telling everything to Jim? 

8.      How would Eilis’ story be different if she and Tony and the rest of his family had not lived in their own little enclave?

9.      What do you think happens after the novel ends?