Beach Music, by Pat Conroy (second half - Parts 4, 5, 6 and Epilogue)

NOTE:  My Library Book Group is discussing this book over two months.  This discussion guide is for the second half of the book.

Characters – expanded for second half of novel
McCall family	Others
Jack McCall Shyla – wife, suicide Leah – daughter Judge Johnson Hagood McCall – father Lucy – mother Dr. John Pitts – Lucy’s second husband Father Jude – Lucy’s brother Brothers: Dupree Dallas – lawyer with dad’s firm Tee – second youngest John Hardin – youngest, mental problems Paternal grandparents: Silas Ginny Penn The Great Dog Chippie	Shyla Fox’s family: Martha – sister Ruth – mother – rescued as teenager from Holocausts by Max Rusoff and wife George - father – pianist, also Holocaust survivor Jack’s high school friends: Ledare Middleton Capers Middleton - divorced from Ledare, political ambitions, 2nd wife Betsy Mike Hess – Hollywood produced Jordan Elliott – fugitive, priest in Rome Jordan’s parents: Celestine General Elliott Max Rusoff – Mike’s father, department store owner, mayor of Waterford In Kironittska was apprenticed as child to: Arel the Muscle – blacksmith Mottele the Blade – butcher Radical Bob Merrill – leader of Students for Democratic Society at Carolina University 1969-1971

After reading the second half of the book:

• In chapter 20 Jack said to Leah that, “All life connects…. Nothing happens that is meaningless.”  How well did everything will connect together at the end of the book?
• What questions did you have that were answered in the second half of the book?

If you read the entire book without a break:

• What surprised the reader in the second half?
• What seemed important in the first half that was not be important to the final story?

 For discussion:

1. What did you think about the story where Shyla brought home the homeless black woman, left her alone in the apartment and then she stole everything from them?  Was it realistic that Shyla would do this and that Jack would go along with it?
2. Leah is about eight when she and Jack go back to Waterford.   Does she act too old for her age in the novel?   In particular, see the episode in chapter 28 with her grandmother and Jane, the South Carolina Wildlife Officer and also the time she saw John Hardin naked.
3. On about the fourth page of chapter 31 Leah tells Jack that he does not understand John Hardin or his father and that Jack is mean to his father.  She says that, “It’s your job to like him.  He’s your daddy.”   Is this too insightful for a child?
4. At the very beginning of chapter 29, what did Jack mean by a “danger of unremembrance?”
5. Do you think it would have been possible for Ruth and George Fox to escape their past and move on?   Was it possible for them to raise Shyla differently than they did?
6. There have been numerous fiction and nonfiction accounts published about the Holocaust.   How did George Fox’s story written by Conroy compare?  Did you gain any new insights?
7. At the end of chapter 30, George tells Jack, “I think Shyla might have died because of what I did not tell her, not what Ruth did.”   He went on to say, “I thought silence was the proper resolution and strategy for what happened to me.  I did not think my poisons and hatreds and shame would leak out and poison everything I loved.”  What did he mean?  When would it have been appropriate to tell Shyla his story?   Would it have made a difference to her?
8. What was Mike’s motivation for holding the mock trial for Jordan Elliott?  Did you think it was self-serving?
9. Where you surprised when Capers was revealed as a paid undercover agent at the trial following the Vietnam Demonstration?
10. What purpose did Radical Bob Merrill play in the novel?
11. He alone seemed unconcerned with what he did in the past.   In chapter 38 during the mock trial he said, “I did what I thought was right back then.  Hindsight’s groovy, but a total waste of time.”   Do you agree?  Why or why not?
12. Does Capers need forgiveness for what he did to his friends and family or is General Elliott right when he said, “You’re the only one on this stage who conducted yourself with honor in this whole affair.”  (Chapter 38)
13. Also in chapter 38 the General said, “I can’t help who I am, son.”   Do you agree?  Is it possible to be self-reflective and change something about ourselves we do not like?
14. When John Hardin kidnapped his mother and the brothers were hunting him, where was Dr. Pitts?  Where was Leah?  Do you think the author should have addressed this?
15. Who do you think Jack and Ledare should have chosen for their matron of honor and best man?
16. The 2009 paperback edition has a letter at the end that Pat Conroy wrote to the Charleston Gazette in response to an email from a high school student telling him that some parents were trying to stop high school English teachers from teaching The Prince of Tides and Beach Music in their English classes.  How convincing was his argument to allow the books in the classroom?  What did you think was his most convincing point?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the  upper right  link.

The Sunlight Pilgrims, by Jenni Fagan

REVIEW: This was an interesting book, although far from my favorite.   The writing is beautiful.  I especially liked the description of driving across the suspension bridge (“…flashes of crisscross, crisscross, crisscross, the shadows flicker over the driver’s face.”) on page 19 and the description of Dylan inside the cloud on page 78.   I also gained insight into the feelings of someone who feels they are in the wrong gender body and the struggles to fit in as a teenager.  Even though there are many positive aspects of the book, I can’t quite put my finger on why the story did not interest me more.  Maybe it moved too slow, or I like a bit more drama.  Certainly there are readers out there who will find this book enthralling, I am just not one of them.  I received a complimentary copy of the book for this review.

Characters
Clachan Fells	Babylon Cinema
Constance Fairbanks – the moon polisher Stella (previously Cael) Alistair – Constance’s lover and Stella’s father Caleb – Constance’s lover Lewis Brown – used to be Stella’s best friend Vito – transgender internet friend in Italy Sisters of Beathnock Residents: Barnacle Tim (Alan) Satanist Ida – porn star Boo – Iceberg heading for Clachan Fells	Dylan MacRae Vivienne – mother Gunn – grandmother Havid & Bitta – Dylan’s great-grandparents Children: Gunn MacRae Olaf Balkie Vivienne MacRae – Gunn and Olaf’s child Alistair Balkie – son of Olaf and Astrid (wife)

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1. Did you enjoy the description of being inside a cloud on page 78?  Were you able to feel what Dylan was experiencing?
2. How well did the author describe Stella’s experience being transgender?  Did the book help your understanding of the feelings and problems faced by transgender people?  How do you think Constance was coping?   Was there anything that could have been done to help Stella’s acceptance in her school? 
3. Do you think the Sisters of Beathnock should have done more to help Stella?  The book starts in the year 2020.  Did you think helping a transgender child would be more understood in the future than was portrayed in the novel?
4. On page 45, Stella meets Gunn in the caravan park and Gunn tells her that, “You have two spirits…”   What do you think she meant?
5. On the same page, 45, Gunn says she was taught how to safely look directly at the sun and absorb the sunlight by the “sunlight pilgrims…from the islands farthest north.”   How did you understand this passage?   (See page 124 for discussion between Stella and Dylan regarding the identity of Gunn as the woman Stella talked to.)
6. Why is Constance referred to as a “moon polisher?”
7. Why did Gunn change her last name from the family name (Balkie) to her mother’s maiden name (MacRae)?
8. Should Dylan tell Constance and Stella their family connection?  Do you think he ever will?  Did you like the way the author hinted at something in the family but drew out revealing it to the reader?
9. Can you imagine living under the conditions described in the book?  How do you think you would fare?
10. Did you like the ending?  What do you think will happen next?

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.