The Rich Part of Life, by Jim Kokoris

Characters
Pappas Household	Others
Father Amy – mother –d deceased Teddy – narrator Tommy – The Nose Picker Aunt Bess Uncle Frank   Maurice – bodyguard   Sylvanius	Bobby Lee Anderson – Teddy’s biological father Carl – Bobby’s brother   Dr. Spiral – Teddy’s therapist   Mrs. Wilcott Benjamin   St. Pius Miss Grace – Teddy’s teacher Ergu – Teddy’s Christian pen pal Charlie Governs – friend who liked to draw Johnny Cezzaro

 For discussion:

1.            Why did Aunt Bess wait until they won the money before she stayed with them?  Obviously they needed help earlier.

2.            Discuss the various characters, their actions and their motivations.

3.            Did you relate to one character more than the others?

4.            Discuss Mrs. Wilcott.  What do you think were her motivations?

5.            Should mom and dad have told Teddy about his father sooner?

6.            Discuss the father.  Should he have been more open with Teddy about the custody battle?  Were you surprised that he was giving money away all along?

7.            Do you think Bobby would really have hit Teddy outside the bar?   Discuss Bobby’s motivation – was he interested in the money or his son?

8.            Was Teddy a believable character?

9.            What was your reading experience with this book?  Positive, negative or mixed?

The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht

Stories and Characters
Natalia’s narrative	The Deathless Man	The Tiger’s Wife
Natalia Stefanovic Grandfather – kept illness a secret Bako – grandmother The Jungle Book – always in grandfather’s possession Shere Khan – Tiger in book Mother Vera – grandfather’s mother Zora – friend and fellow doctor Zdrevkov – clinic where grandfather died Brejevina Fra Antun – Franciscan monk Barba Ivan – Antun’s father and the mora at end of novel who takes coins from graves Arlo – deceased brother Bis – Arlo’s dog Dure and family – digging for body in vineyard	Gavran Gaile	Town – Galina Grandfather – 9 years old at time Luka Amana – Luka’s intended, ran away Deaf-mute – other daughter who Luka married unknowlingly Jova – Luka’s friend Darisa the Bear – taxidermist The Apothecary

For discussion:

NOTE:  All page numbers refer to the paperback edition.

1. Natalia and her grandfather visited the zoo every day.  When she was 13 she no longer enjoyed this ritual and did not realize that the trips were not only for her. (page 34)  What was her grandfather’s purpose for these visits?

2. Do you think Grandfather was right to keep his illness a secret from all but Natalia?  Why?

3. Discuss the effect of the closing of the zoo on the people in the city and their reactions.

4. Why did the people in Brejevina continue to paint pictures of Bis? (pages 269-270)

5. What is the importance of our daily rituals?  The author wrote that, as the grandfather aged, “there was a difference between the rituals of comfort and the preventative rituals that come of the end of life.”  (page 276)  What rituals do you have that are important to you?

The Tiger’s Wife:

6. Where you surprised that the apothecary poisoned the Tiger’s Wife?  Why do you think he did so?  (page 320 – 323)

7. How did the tiger’s wife affect the people of Galina?

8. What was the effect of the tiger’s wife on the grandfather?

The Deathless Man:

9. The deathless man said that his work was “to give peace” and that he was there to do penance for his uncle.   (page 177)  Also, he said that what he did was “not some gift…..It’s punishment.”  (page 179)  What do you think about this character and his place in the story?

10. When the grandfather and Gaile were in Sarobar they ate dinner at an old hotel.  Gaile knew that the waiter was going to die the next day but did not tell him because he did not want to deny him the pleasure of serving the meal and the night with his family.  Do you think they should have told the waiter or not?  Why?

11. What do you think is the point of this story?  Why did the author include it in the novel?

In conclusion:

12. Consider the two stories, “The Tiger’s Wife” and “The Deathless Man” as well as the other stories in the novel (for example, the Mora who collected the coins from graves and Dure and his family digging up the body in the vineyard).    What was real and what was myth? 

13. On page 32, the Natalie states, “Everything necessary to understand my grandfather lies between two stories: the story of the tiger’s wife, and the story of the deathless man.”  What did we learn and understand about the grandfather through these stories?

14. How do the three stories fit together?  What do we learn about the grandfather from the stories?  Why was he fascinated by tigers?

15. Discuss your reading experience.  Did you get lost at parts?   Did the novel give you any insights into life?