The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott

NOTE: My book groups are not able to meet this month, March 2020, due to COVID-19.  We have plans to read and discuss Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak as a natural follow-up to this book.  Enjoy!

East

West

Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (Olya) – incarcerated 3 years, after that became Pasternak’s business emissary Ira – daughter Mitya – son Mother Boris Pasternak (Borya) 1958 – Awarded the Nobel Prize, forced to turn it down 1989 – Re-awarded Nobel Prize Zinaida - wife Lubyanka: Anatoli Sergeyevich Semionov – Olga’s guard Giangiacomo Feltrinelli – Italian publisher Sergio D’Angelo – Italian literary agent

Irina Drozdova Mother – seamstress Father – arrested, died in Gulag The Typists: Betty – former OSS Virginia – former OSS Gail Carter – engineering degree, black Kathy Norma Kelly – married Teddy, wrote spy novel Soviet Russian Division (SR):        Walter Anderson – oversaw typing pool, former OSS        Frank Wisner -founded agency’s clandestine ops,        Sally Forrester – The Swallow, became Lenore Miller in 1958 after dismissed from SR        Teddy Helm – trainer, went to England to get book in original Russian        Henry Rennet – ruined Sally’s reputation, Sally had him killed

For Discussion:

Note: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       The author wrote that many people involve in intelligence came to work at the Agency because, for one reason, they missed “the power that came from being a keeper of secrets” (page 59).   Can you understand this?  How do you feel when you are entrusted with a secret?

2.       Discuss the character of Irina.  Why did she have trouble fitting into the typing pool?  Irina wondered if her “feeling of being a constant outsider, of being more comfortable alone” was picked up by the group (page 117).

3.       Were you surprised that Irina liked her new role as a carrier as much as she did?  She thought that “For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had a greater purpose, not just a job” (page 116).   Could you do that type of work?

4.       What did you think about the subplot of the relationship between Sally and Irina?  Did it add to the novel?  Did you like the ending?

5.       At the end of the novel, Norma published a book about a “female agent provocateur who took down a double” and the Agency “distanc[ed] itself from novel’s content” (page 343).  Do you think this was a true story about Sally?  If so, how did Norma know this information?  Would Teddy have told her the story?

6.       Discuss the character of Henry:

a.       In Chapter 15, why did Henry attack Sally?  Did the people in the Agency really not care about her?

b.       Who were the people at Sara’s Dry Cleaning in Washington, DC?  What happened to Henry after Sally gave them his name?

c.       Was he really a double agent?

7.       Discuss the novel, Dr. Zhivago:

a.       When Sally finally read the book in 1958, she thought that it was not a weapon, but a love story (page 302). 

b.       The Agency thought is was a weapon.  They valued it because of the “critiques of the October Revolution and its so-called subversive nature” (page 131).

c.       What do you think after reading The Secrets We Kept?

8.       Discuss the power of books in general:

a.       The Agency saw “books as weapons” and thought that “literature could change the course of history” (page 130).  Do you agree?

b.       Have you read any books you thought could have changed the world?  That changed you?

9.       How did you like the organization of the book?  Did it take you a while to determine that chapters were narrated by different people?  Did you like the way the author crossed our previous identities and added new ones?

10.   Did this book influence you to want to read Dr. Zhivago?  (I hope so!!!)

Hillbilly Elegy, by J. D. Vance

NOTE: My book groups are not able to meet this month, March 2020, due to COVID-19.   Hopefully you can make good use of this time in social isolation to read!

People

J. D. Vance – author Usha – wife Lindsey – sister, husband Kevin, son Kameron Mamaw and Papaw – Jim Vance and Bonnie Blanton Children – Jimmy, Bev (author’s mother), Lori (“Aunt Wee,” husband Dan) Bev’s husbands: Dan Bowman – 2nd (J.D.’s father) Bob Hamel – 3rd (adopted J. D.) Ken – 4th

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       This book was a combination of memoir and sociology textbook.  Discuss the following ideas or observations presented:

a.       “Social class in America isn’t just about money” (page 63).  The relationships Bev had with her husbands was often the norm in their social class.

b.       When working as a store cashier, the author observed that, “The more harried a customer, the more they purchased precooked or frozen food, the more likely they were to be poor.” (page 138).

c.       Emotional poverty (page 143) – unable to deal with difficulties in life without complete melt down

d.       Similarities between the black and the hillbilly experiences (page 144)

e.       Irrational behaviors such as excessive spending beyond money limits, homes a “chaotic mess,” don’t encourage education, don’t provide an environment conducive to learning, make choice not to work when should be seeking a job, never model responsibility, and poor eating and exercise habits (pages 146-148).

f.        The effect of “group belief” on the success of individuals.  The author wrote, “If you believe that hard work pays off, then you work hard; if you think it’s hard to get ahead even when you try, then why try at all?” (page 193).

g.       Social capital – economic value in people and institutions in people’s lives (page 214).

h.       When J. D. and Yale friends when out to eat and left a mess at the table, only J. D. and another student (also poor) stayed behind to clean up instead of leaving it for someone else (page 203).  Why?

2.       The author felt that to change young people’s lives, one thing that needs to be addressed is the importance of what happens in the home (page 245).  How can public policy address that issue?

3.       How were the author, Lindsey and Aunt Lori able to break the chain of violent marriages?

4.       The author identified only a few people who made a difference in his success (Mamaw and Yale Professor Amy Chua, for example).   Who encouraged you in your life or made a difference in your life’s path?

5.       Did reading this book give you any insights into people or society that you had not considered before?  If so, what?

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, by Denise Kiernan

Women at Oak Ridge	Men
Celia Szapka – secretary Toni Peters – secretary Jane Greer – statistician Kattie Strickland – janitor - African American – came with husband and left children behind Virginia Spivey – chemist Colleen Rowan – pipe inspector Dorothy Jones – calutron cubical operator Helen Hall – calutron cubical operator Rosemary Maiers – nurse	GG – General Leslie Groves – head of Manhattan Project James Edward “Ed” Wescott – photographer – documented Oak Ridge project Ebb Cabe – HP-12
Other Women	Names and Codes
Ida Noddach – German geochemist – suggested fission years before discovered Lise Meitner – Austrian physicist – escaped Nazi Germany – part of team that discovered fission Leona Woods – American physicist M. H.K.Ferguson – widow of H.K. Ferguson Co. founder – built S-50 plant Joan Hinton – American physicist – worked with Enrico Fermi Elizabeth Graves – American physicist – worked on neuron reflector surrounding the Gadget	The Gadget Tubealloy CEW – Clinton Engineering Works

For discussion:

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

1. From a reader’s perspective, how did you like the sections alternating between the story of the girls and the science developments?
2. Would you have considered going off to a new job and location with such little information?  Why do you think the girls were so trusting and willing to go?
3. The author wrote that The Project, “liked high school girls…feeling young women were easy to instruct.  They did what they were told.  They weren’t overly curious.”   This was contrasted with the idea that, “Educated young women and men, people who had gone to college and learned just enough to think that they might ‘know’ something, gave you problems.” (page 69)  Do you agree that it was the college education or something else that made some people more inquisitive?
4. Consider the censorship and how little was known about the settlement at Oak Ridge.  Was it justified?  Would it be possible today?
5. On page 5 the author wrote, “Complaining was not in fashion in 1943.”  What happened since then that complaining is one of our main activities?
6. Discuss the discrimination against women and also against African Americans.
1. Women:

                                                               i.      Only men could be “Head of Household” and therefore get a house. (page 86)

                                                             ii.      Women stayed in dorms with “Dorm Mothers” where they could be closely monitored. (page 94).

2. African Americans:

                                                               i.      Black women stayed in a special part of the hutments surrounded with barbed wire and with a guard at the entrance.  Men did not.  (page 90)

                                                             ii.      Homes were not provided for blacks because they, “didn’t want the nice houses…” and they “felt more comfortable in the huts, that was what was familiar to them…” (page 91)

                                                           iii.      Men and women lived separately and spouses were not allowed to visit. (page 92)

                                                           iv.      Discuss the experiments done on Ebb Cabe (HP-12) without his knowledge. 

7. Discuss the changes that the addition of women made to Oak Ridge:
1. “Whether intended or not, CEW was a social experiment of sorts.” (page 97)
2. “Women added a social dimension to this military installation that had not yet been taken fully into account.” (page 97)
3. “Women were powerful. And oh so necessary.” (page 97)
4. “Women infused the job site with life, their permanence effortlessly defying all attempts to control and plan and shape every aspect of day-to-day existence at Oak Ridge.” (page 98)
8. How do you think people were able to cope in such a restricted environment where you were afraid to say anything about your work to anyone?  On page 96 the author wrote that it was suspected that there were many psychiatric problems among the residents.
9. Do you like Spam? 
10. On page xviii in the character list it said that the real name of Mrs. H. K. Ferguson would be revealed later.  Did you ever find it?
11. How would you feel to find out you had been a part of developing such a destructive weapon?  Did the good overcome the negative?

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

Characters
Cussy Mary Carter – Bluet Elijah - father – active in miner’s union Charles Frazier – husband, died on wedding night Pastor Vester Frazier – Charles’ cousin, First Mountain Truth of Christ Church Doctor Junia - mule Pack Horse Library Project: Eula Foster – head librarian Harriet Hardin – bookbinder Queenie Johnson – Negro Pack Horse Librarian Birdie – youngest Sheriff Davies Kimbo Mr. Dalton – banker, Lovett’s friend	Bluet’s book route
	Monday Moffits        Angeline - age 16, pregnant       Willie – husband, shot in foot for stealing a chicken, blue fingers and toe nails        Honey – baby Jackson Lovett School        Winnie Parker – teacher        Henry – starving, died Mr. Prine The Smiths Loretta Adams – babysat Honey, new glasses Martha Hannah – husband, Devil John Tuesday Followed the creek bed Wednesday – Hogtail Mountain Evans family Marta Flynn R. C. Cole – Civilian Conservation Core, fire tower                      *Ruth - wife Thursday To outpost Friday Oren Taft’s Tobacco Top Community

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       There were various references to reading and books in the novel. Which one particularly spoke to you?  For example:

a.       Page 43 – “A sneaky time thief is in them books.”

2.       Discuss the similarities between Bluet and her father – they both felt they were doing something important.  When Bluet asked her dad why he always went when he was picked to do the dangerous work, he replied, “That’s exactly why I have to, Daughter” (page 48).

3.       Discuss how different people were judged in the book. For example, Pastor Frazier was depicted as evil, but, “’He was an important man to some,’ Doc insisted” (page 117).  Also, the “blues” were at the very bottom of the social scale in the town.  Finally, a woman raped and violated “would be damned – persecuted and dismissed from her job” (pages 114-115) even though it was not her fault.

4.       After Frazier was killed after attaching Bluet, Doc told Elijah that people would still not understand because of their “fear of peculiarity, things that have no name or grasp” (page 115).  Why do we fear things that are different than we are?

5.       What did you think about Doc’s desire to run medical tests on Bluet?  If you were her, would you have consented?  Why didn’t the sheriff change his mind about her when Doc explained it was simply a medical condition?

6.       What was the difference between Doc’s idea that Bluet could be “fixed” (page 130) and her thought that she wanted to be “okay as a Blue” (page 130)?

7.       Did you understand why Bluet stopped taking the pills?

8.       Discuss the end of the novel? Were you surprised that so many people supported Bluet and Lovett and defeated the sheriff in the next election?

9.       Why did Eula change her mind about Bluet at the end of the book?

10.   How will Honey grow up? Will things change in her lifetime?