The Great Alone, by Kristen Hannah

Characters
Allbright family	Kaneq, Alaska
Lenora “Leni” Ernt – father Caroline “Cora” – mother Golliher – Cora’s parents Leni and Matthew’s children: Matthew Jr. “MJ” Kenai Cora	Earl Harlan – father Bo Harlan – son, POW in Viet Nam with Ernt, deceased Thelma Schill - daughter Large Marge Birdsall Natalie Watkins Tom Walker Geneva Walker – wife, separated Matthew – son Alyeska – daughter Atka – second wife Calhoun Mulvey – Geneva’s boyfriend Tica Rhodes – teacher Dieter Manse - pilot

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1. Discuss the various characters.  Could you understand their motivations?
1. Could you empathize with Ernt, even if you might have found him irreparable?
2. What did you think about Cora’s parents?  How would you react if your daughter was in a terrible relationship and ran away?  Leni thought her grandmother was “a complex mixture or optimism and practicality” (pages 398 & 399).
3. When reflecting on their family dynamics, Leni thought, “Dad blew his temper and Mama somehow encouraged it.  Like maybe she needed to know how much he loved her all the time” (page 77).  Is that how you would describe their family dynamics?
4. Was it possible for Cora to leave Ernt?   

2. On page 20, Cora told Leni not to tell her father, Ernt, that Cora had visited her mother and got some money from her.  Leni thought that not telling, the omission of the truth, was the same as a lie.  What do you think?
3. At the end of chapter 5, when Leni met Matthew at the town barbeque, she felt sad because she could not tell him what her life was like.   She had always dreamed of having a friend, but in that moment realized that she, “couldn’t have a real friend because she couldn’t be one” (page 69).  Can you imagine what Leni’s life was like?
4. Were you surprised that the teacher, Tica Rhodes, was allowed to take the children from school and on a plane ride with Dieter Manse?
5. Many people in Kaneq had normal previous lives and many others were living very different lives.   For example, Large Marge was a prosecutor, Natalie was an economics professor, one woman (rumored to be a former policewoman) lived in a school bus and read palms, and one man thought he was married to a goose.  Were these people different before they came to Alaska, is that why they came, or did living in Alaska change them?
6. When Tom Walker started to make improvements in the town to attract tourists, the town was divided about if the town should change or not.  Was either side right or wrong?  Was there a middle ground?
7. In the newspaper article Leni wrote in 2009, she said that when living in Alaska, “you will either become your best self and flourish, or you will run away…” (page 438).  What personality characteristics are essential to thriving in an environment such as Alaska?  Could you?
8. Discuss your reading experience.    Did you like the ending?  Was it satisfying?

*****
Coming soon!!  First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, available  at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

Characters
Herat	Kabul	Other
Mariam Nana – mother Habib Khan – village Arbab Bibi jo Mullah Faizullah – Koran tutor Jalil – Mariam’s father Wives – Afsoon, Khadiha, Narbis Son – Muhsin, Farhad, Ramin Daughters – Saldeh, Naheed, Niloufar	Rasheed Yunus – deceased son Mariam – first wife Laila – second wife Aziza – Laila’s baby with Tariq Zalmai – baby with Rasheed Abdul Sharif – paid by Rasheed to tell Laila that Tariq was dead Fariba Hakim – husband Children – Noor & Ahmad: killed in battle; Laila (born 1978) Tariq -Laila’s friend Zaman – director of orphanage	Salim – prisoner Tariq met in jail Sayeed – brother who gave Tariq a job Naghma – in prison with Mariam

 For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1. Whose version of Mariam’s birth (page 11) do you believe: Nana’s (two days, no help, cut cord herself) or Jalil’s (sent Nana to hospital and birth was quick)?
2. Was Mariam to blame for Nana’s suicide?
3. Discuss the various characters and their motivations.  Could anyone have acted differently than they did?
4. Both Mariam and Laila said that wearing a burqa was oddly comforting.  Were you able to understand their feelings?   In chapter 11, did the author do a good job of describing what it was like to suddenly have to wear one?
5. In chapter 18, Laila thought about the difference between how girls and boys think of friendship.  She and her friends were always saying they missed each other after a few days apart, but, “Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly” (page 118).  Is this an accurate description of how boys and girls differ in this area? 

6. At the funeral for Noor and Ahmad, there were women that monopolized Fariba’s time and attention.   The author described them as “women who relished all things that had to do with death, official consolers who let no one trespass on their self-appointed duties” (page 124).    Have you met such people?   Is this an aspect of aging?
7. In the same vein, when Mariam was in prison she met Naghma, who the author described as, “the sort of person who found it entertaining to disperse news of misfortune, whether others’ or her own” (pages 322 & 323).  Have you met someone like this?  Why do you think they find this sharing of information satisfying?
8. Early on in Mariam’s marriage to Rasheed, Jalil parked outside their house in order to see Mariam but she did not acknowledge him (page 100).   Would things have been different if she had seen him?
9. Discuss the format of chapter 44 where the author went back and forth between Laila talking to Tariq and what happened after he left and Zalmai told Rasheed he had been there.   Was this an effective way of telling the story?
10. Did Mariam have any other choice but to kill Rasheed?  Would anything she said have made a difference in the outcome of her trial? 
11. The judge at Mariam’s trial seemed to empathize with her and wanted to be kind, but felt he had no choice but to sentence her to death.  Also, the guard who accompanied her to her execution was kind.   Did you find any other examples of kindness in the novel?
12. Discuss your reading experience.  Did you enjoy novel?  Are you glad that you read it?   What did you learn?

*****
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.

We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates

Characters
Mulvaney Family	Others
Michael Sr. - father Corinne Hausmann – mother Mike Jr. “Mule” – oldest son Patrick “Pinch” Marianne “Buttons” Judd “Ranger” – youngest, narrator “It” happened in 1976	Zachary Lundt Mort – father Ethel Hausmann – cousin Marianne went to live with Green Isle Co-op: Abelove Penelope Hagstrom - poet Stump Creek Hill Animal Shelter and Hospital: Dr. Whitaker West – veterinarian Mt. Ephraim Country Club

For Discussion:

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

1. At the beginning of the novel (page 27), Corinne prided herself in not being “a mother who fussed over her children.”  Would things have turned out differently if she had paid more attention to the children?  Should she and Michael have known something had happened to Marianne? 
2. Lydia Bethune told Corinne about Marianne having trouble.   Did she do the right thing in telling Corinne?
3. Discuss Michael Sr. and the separation from his family when he argued with his father and left home.    As a result of that his father cut Michael out of the family’s life completely.   How do you think this influenced how Michael dealt with Marianne and the assault?
4. Marianne felt she was totally to blame for the assault.   Also, in 1979 she still felt that “she’d disappointed Corinne: every turn of her life since Valentine’s Day of 1976” (page 321).   Was there some way someone could have helped her?
5. Discuss how the Mulvaney’s “friends” reacted to the assault.  “Michael was sick not just with it…but with what he felt to be the betrayal of their Mt. Ephraim friends” (page 174).  Also, at Patrick’s graduation people “seemed now not to see them” (page 198).
6. Discuss Judd and his experience in the family.  In 1979 when Patrick was planning his revenge, Judd thought “What about me?” (page 289) and also directly asked Patrick “What about me?  I live there” (page 290).  How did Judd experience the family’s disintegration differently from his older siblings?
7. When Patrick was planning his revenge, he thought Zachary’s parents were also guilty, “Defending the rapist, slandering the victim” (page 293).  Do you agree?
8. Patrick was also surprised at Zachary’s reaction when he captured him.    “He didn’t want to think that his enemy, Zachary Lundt, whom he’d so long despised and in a way feared, was no more than this trembling whimpering boy who’d wet his pants” (page 297.  Were you surprised at both Zachary and Patrick’s reactions?
9. How do you explain Michael Sr.’s reaction and change in behavior? 
1. “God help me, Corinne, I can’t bear the sight of the girl any longer” (page 185).
2. “He’d banished Marianne from the household and from his life so that he could banish her from his thoughts” (page 225).
3. Letting the roofing business fail.
4. Poured beer in Judge Gerald Kirkland’s face at country club.
5. “Where always in the past Dad had been courtly to Mom…now he was indifferent, or rude; or worse (page 259).
10. Why did Corinne tell Patrick not to interfere with his sister on page 225?  Why did she not go visit her or invite Marianne to come home at least for a visit?  Why did she tell Marianne to stay away from her Grandmother’s funeral?
11. What did you think of Abelove?  Was he evil or good-hearted?
12. When Marianne was in charge of the Co-op’s chores, she managed them just like her mother managed the household when the children were little.  How did you assess Marianne’s skills in her various experiences after she left home?   What might she have done with her life if the assault in high school had not happened?
13. The novel was very grim except for the last chapter.   Did reading that everyone was happy in the end make you feel better?  Did the last chapter fit with the rest of the novel?  Will history repeat with the children?
14. The assault took place in 1976 and the novel was written in 1997.   How would it be different if the assault happened today?  Would the novel be different if it were written today?

*****

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

We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates

Characters
Mulvaney Family	Others
Michael Sr. - father Corinne Hausmann – mother Mike Jr. “Mule” – oldest son Patrick “Pinch” Marianne “Buttons” Judd “Ranger” – youngest, narrator “It” happened in 1976	Zachary Lundt Mort – father Ethel Hausmann – cousin Marianne went to live with Green Isle Co-op: Abelove Penelope Hagstrom - poet Stump Creek Hill Animal Shelter and Hospital: Dr. Whitaker West – veterinarian Mt. Ephraim Country Club

For Discussion:

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

1. At the beginning of the novel (page 27), Corinne prided herself in not being “a mother who fussed over her children.”  Would things have turned out differently if she had paid more attention to the children?  Should she and Michael have known something had happened to Marianne? 
2. Lydia Bethune told Corinne about Marianne having trouble.   Did she do the right thing in telling Corinne?
3. Discuss Michael Sr. and the separation from his family when he argued with his father and left home.    As a result of that his father cut Michael out of the family’s life completely.   How do you think this influenced how Michael dealt with Marianne and the assault?
4. Marianne felt she was totally to blame for the assault.   Also, in 1979 she still felt that “she’d disappointed Corinne: every turn of her life since Valentine’s Day of 1976” (page 321).   Was there some way someone could have helped her?
5. Discuss how the Mulvaney’s “friends” reacted to the assault.  “Michael was sick not just with it…but with what he felt to be the betrayal of their Mt. Ephraim friends” (page 174).  Also, at Patrick’s graduation people “seemed now not to see them” (page 198).
6. Discuss Judd and his experience in the family.  In 1979 when Patrick was planning his revenge, Judd thought “What about to me?” (page 289) and also directly asked Patrick “What about me?  I live there” (page 290).  How did Judd experience the family’s disintegration differently from his older siblings?
7. When Patrick was planning his revenge, he thought Zachary’s parents were also guilty, “Defending the rapist, slandering the victim” (page 293).  Do you agree?
8. Patrick was also surprised at Zachary’s reaction when he captured him.    “He didn’t want to think that his enemy, Zachary Lundt, whom he’d so long despised and in a way feared, was no more than this trembling whimpering boy who’d wet his pants” (page 297.  Were you surprised at both Zachary and Patrick’s reactions?
9. How do you explain Michael Sr.’s reaction and change in behavior? 
1. “God help me, Corinne, I can’t bear the sight of the girl any longer” (page 185).
2. “He’d banished Marianne from the household and from his life so that he could banish her from his thoughts” (page 225).
3. Letting the roofing business fail.
4. Poured beer in Judge Gerald Kirkland’s face at country club.
5. “Where always in the past Dad had been courtly to Mom…now he was indifferent, or rude; or worse (page 259).
10. Why did Corinne tell Patrick not to interfere with his sister on page 225?  Why did she not go visit her or invite Marianne to come home at least for a visit?  Why did she tell Marianne to stay away from her Grandmother’s funeral?
11. What did you think of Abelove?  Was he evil or good-hearted?
12. When Marianne was in charge of the Co-op’s chores, she managed them just like her mother managed the household when the children were little.  How did you assess Marianne’s skills in her various experiences after she left home?   What might she have done with her life if the assault in high school had not happened?
13. The novel was very grim except for the last chapter.   Did reading that everyone was happy in the end make you feel better?  Did the last chapter fit with the rest of the novel?  Will history repeat with the children?
14. The assault took place in 1976 and the novel was written in 1997.   How would it be different if the assault happened today?  Would the novel be different if it were written today?

*****
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.