A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler

Characters

Mr. and Mrs. Brill – first owners of house Jurvis Roy Whitshank “J. R.” or “Junior” Linnie May – wife Merrick and Redcliffe – children Merrick Barrister Walter “Trey” Barrister III – husband Pookie Vanderlin – Merrick’s friend, first engaged to Trey Redcliffe “Red” Whitshank Abby Amanda – Hugh (husband), Elise (daughter) Jeannie – Hugh (husband), Deb and Alexander 9children) Denny Douglas “Stem” - Nora (wife), three sons Susan – Denny’s daughter (not biological) with Carla Lawrence O’Brien and Barbara Jane “BJ” Eames Autry – Stem’s parents

 For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers are from the paperback edition of the novel.

1. Discuss Junior and Linnie.  Could Junior have avoided marrying Linnie?  Did her really love her but didn’t know it?
2. It seemed the only time Linnie asserted herself was when she poured the blue paint on the sidewalk after Junior repainted the blue porch swing.   Do you think Linnie was happy?
3. In Part Two, before Abby and Junior were dating, Abby was helping Linnie in the kitchen and discussing Merrick.  Linnie said, “…it seems to me there’s just these certain types of people that come around and around in our lives…Easy types and hard types” (page 240, chapter 9).  Did you agree with this statement?   Are people even aware of being one type or another?  How would  you describe the characters in the novel – easy or hard?
4. When the Red and Merrick were young, Abby brought “orphans” into the house to help them, which annoyed the children.   At one point they commented that, “Other people showed love by offering compliments.  Abby offered pity.  It was not an attractive quality, in her children’s opinion” (page 67, chapter 4).  How did the different characters in the novel show their love to each other?
5. What did you think about Nora?  Was she really so perfect and easy going?  On page 195 (beginning chapter 8) Amanda commented to Denny, “I wish Stem and Nora weren’t so …virtuous.  It’s wearing, it what it is.”  
6. Discuss Denny.   What did you think he was like when he was away from family?    On the one hand the family thought he did not care about them, but on the other hand he helped out Jeannie during her postpartum depression (page 202, chapter 8).
7. Why didn’t Denny tell the family that he had graduated from college?  Abby thought it was because he wanted her to continue to worry about him (page 156, chapter 6).
8. Discuss Denny and Stem.  On the last page of chapter 3 Denny felt that Stem was, “More of a Whitshank than Denny was.”   Also, he asked his mother if the parents ever thought about asking the children’s permission before bringing Stem to live with them.   Do you think they should have asked?
9. When the subject of a retirement community came up, Red told his sister that he and Abby were “too independent for a retirement community” (page 132, chapter 5).   Her reply was that is was just another word for “selfish” and “It’s stiff-backed people like you who end up being the biggest burdens” (same page).  Do you agree?
10. In the last scene, do you think Denny should have spoken to the boy crying on the train?  Why or why not?
11. Have you ever heard the quote, “You are only as happy as your least happy child” (page 159, chapter 6)?  Do you think it is true?
12. This is the author’s 20^th novel.  How would it be different if she wrote it when she was much younger?
13. How do you think readers of different ages would read this book?  

*****

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 Inkblots, by Damion Searls

REVIEW:  Inkblots is a very interesting and well-written book.  Don’t read it if you are pressed for time – it is extremely detailed and thorough as it follows the Rorschach inkblot test from inception to the present day.  I did find the staying-power of the test very interesting.    Besides being used throughout its history, it became a part of our popular culture.   While it might not be the best book for a book discussion group, if you have varied and wide-ranging interests, this book is a good choice.  I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for this review.

People
Family	Clinics/Psychiatrists/ Psychologists/Timeline
Hermann Rorschach 1884-1922 Olga – wife Children – Elisabeth and Ulrich Ulrich – father Philippine – mother Siblings – Anna and Paul Aunt Regina – stepmother Regina – half-sister	Burgholzli clinic and teaching hospital: Eugen Bleuler – psychiatrist, professor, clinic director 1898 Carl Jung – professor in Zurich, asst. doctor, 1900 Franz Riklin – asst. doctor, 1902 Sigmund Freud Munsterlingen Clinic 1909 – 1913 Elrich Brauchli – director Rorschach and Dr. Paul Sokolov – assistants Robert Vischer – defined empathy (page 84) and influenced abstract art Rorschach to Kryukovo – private clinic in Russia 1913 Rorschack and Nikolai Osipov – doctors Waldau Clinic – Switzerland – 1914 Walter Morgenthaler – researched art and mental illness Krombach Clinic in Switzerland – 1915 – psychiatric hospital and asylum Szymon Hens – medical student – used black blots to measure imagination David Mordecai Levy – brought test to America in 1923 Samuel Beck – 1927 – first article and dissertation on Rorschach test – objective view Bruno Klopfer – Rorschach Research Exchange journal - more holistic approach to test, subjective World War I –test  given as group multiple choice test in armed services  1945 – test used to examine imprisoned Nazi criminals for Nuremberg Trials Douglas Kelly and Gustave Gilbert Istvan Kulcsar – administered test to Eichmann – “psychopathic personality with an ‘inhuman’ worldview” (page 232) John E. Exner Jr. – 1969 – described five scoring systems for test – revived popularity Robyn Dawes – 1994 – “’use of Rorschach interpretations in establishing an individual’s legal status and child custody is the single most unethical practice of my colleagues’” (page 262). Gregory Meyer – 2011 – latest version of test, Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Joni Mihura – 2013 – gave test scientific basis Stephen Finn – current – new focus on empathy

 For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers refer to the 2017 paperback edition of the book.

1. At the end of the book the author wrote about his experience taking the Rorschach test.   If you could also take it, would you like to know the doctor’s interpretation?
2. In 1919, Rorschach wrote that, “Probably the only thing impossible to change by working on oneself is how one’s introversion and extraversion relate to each other, although the relationship does shift over the course of one’s life because of a kind of maturation process” (page 127).  Do you think we are capable of changing these basic characteristics?  Do you think we should try to change our basic personality?
3. Carl Jung in 1921 wrote that it is impossible to see things from someone else’s perspective, writing, “…Every man is so imprisoned in his type that he is simply incapable of fully understanding another standpoint” (page 157).   Compare this to Stephan Finn who identified that empathy does three different things.  (See page 303.)   How important do you think empathy is to your life and to our society?
4. Why do you think the inkblots have had such an influence in pop culture: for example, in Hollywood films such as “The Dark Mirror,” used in perfume ads, in Ray Bradbury novel, and a painting by Andy Warhol?
5. Why do you think the Rorschach test has been in use for so long?  What makes it different from other tests?

*****

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.