Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger

 

Characters

Nathan and Ruth Drum Frank – narrator Ariel Jake   Grandfather and Liz (second wife)   Gus – served with Nathan during the war   Brandt Family: Emil – Ruth’s former fiancé, blinded in war, musician, Ariel’s teacher Lise – sister, deaf Axel and Julia - Emil and Lise’s brother and wife Karl – son, Ariel’s boyfriend   Police: Doyle Blake Gregor – county sheriff   Danny O’Keefe – friend of Frank’s Warren Redstone – great uncle, Indian sitting with “Skipper’s” body when Frank found them, had Bobby Cole’s glasses and Ariel’s locket   Morris Engdahl – bully   Mrs.  Klement – alto in choir, came to Nathan for marital counseling Peter – son, Frank’s age Travis – husband, abusive   Avis and Edna Sweeney – neighbors, Frank spied on Edna’s laundry on line, came to Nathan for marital counseling   Bobby Cole – first death “Skipper” – itinerant, second death

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Was it realistic to expect Ruth to make the transition from her expectation of being the wife of a successful lawyer to being a minister’s wife?

2.       Given that Nathan was a minister, God and faith were featured prominently in the book. Do you agree with that statement?   How would this book be received by readers of different faiths or no faith?   Does it matter?

3.       Frank thought that Jake “often took the measure of a situation and of people much more accurately than others might have” (page 200).  Why was that?

4.       Why did Jake’s stuttering go away after he said an “ordinary grace” at Ariel’s funeral luncheon?

5.       Why do you think Lise and Jake had such a special relationship and could communicate with each other?

6.       Was Frank responsible for helping to solve things or did he cause more trouble by always ease dropping and spying on people?  For example, he did not tell the police about Redstone and thus helped him escape.  Was that the right thing to do?

7.       Was Frank and/or Doyle partially responsible for Karl’s death because they shared private information between Karl and Nathan?

8.       Was Officer Doyle one of the few evil characters in the book?  Consider that he told others about the confidential conversation between Nathan and Karl and also blew up the frog with the firecracker in front of Frank.

9.       What did you think about Gus?  Did you like his character?  How important was his friendship to Nathan?  Were you surprised he played such an important part in the story?

10.   As you read, what were your thoughts and suspicions about Ruth, Emil and Ariel?  How was Nathan able to be so accepting of Ruth going to stay with Emil after Ariel’s death?

11.   Who did you think was the father of Ariel’s baby?  Were you surprised it was Emil?  Why do you think he let that happen when he was the adult?

12.   The four deaths were described in the Prologue, “Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.” (page 1) but in a different order than they happened.  Were you surprised who died in the book?

13.   The story was written from Frank’s perspective, 40 years later.  Regarding Engdahl, Frank thought, “Now, forty years later, I realize that what I saw was a kid not all that much older than me…blind and lost…I probably should have felt for him something other than I did which was hatred” (page 10).  Would it have been possible for Frank to see Engdahl differently at his young age? 

14.   On page 306, Frank said what he has learned from studying history is that there is, “no such thing as a true event…accounts of what happened depend upon the perspectives from which the event is viewed.”  How do you think some of the other characters would have told this story?

15.   Did you like the way the story ended?

 

Horse, by Geraldine Brooks

 

Characters
1850 - 1875	2019
Dr. Elisha Warfield Wife Anne and Mary Jane – daughters   Cassius “Cash” Clay – emancipationist Harry Clay – father, horse breeder Mary Jane – wife Mary Barr Clay – daughter   Harry Lewis – bought freedom, horse trainer Beth – housekeeper for Warfield’s, married Harry who bought her freedom Jarret – son, saving to buy his freedom   Edward Troye – painter Thomas Scott – animal painter   Alice Carneal – horse Darley – pony, trained by Jarret, renamed Lexington   Richard Ten Broeck – bought Lexington and Jarret Pryor - Broeck’s trainer, abused Lexington Metairie – Ten Broeck’s racetrack   1855 Martha Jackson – art dealer in New York, left Smithsonian one of Scott’s pictures of Lexington Annie – housekeeper, family had painting   Robert Alexander – bought Jarret and Lexington   1861 Mary and Son Robbie living with Jarret Robert – left with him when returned from war   1871 –Jarret in Canada Lucinda and Lucien – wife and son	Theo – wrote for Smithsonian Magazine, found painting of horse PhD dissertation on black people depicted as humans in old paintings   Jess – Smithsonian, Osteology Prep Lab Maisy – assistant   Dr. Catherine Morgan – The Museum of the Horse   Thomasina “Tom” Custler – marine mammal biologist, whale skull

 

 

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       Did reading this book give you any new insights into slavery in the South?  The chapter headings about Jarret aways referred to him by his owner’s name.   Did that have an impact on your understanding?

2.       How do you think Jarret felt when his father kept delaying buying his freedom, first because he did not have enough money and then because he spent the money to buy his wife, Beth.

3.       Have you been around horses?  Did this book give you any insights into the temperament of horses?  Jarret wanted to avoid the “hatefulness in Boston’s nature [that] had come from ill-usage” and “Alice’s high-strung ways” when he was training Darley (page 60).

4.       When Jess confronted Theo about the bikes (they had the same bike and lock and she thought he was stealing hers), did you think that was racism?

5.       In 2019 Theo described to Jess the racism he incurred at his boarding school.  His father’s advice was, “You have to know that bigots are unwittingly handing you an edge. By thinking you’re lesser than they are, they underestimate you…Learn to use it, and you’ll get the upper hand” (page 168).  How did this advice also apply to Jarret?

6.       Were you surprised that so much of the book seemed to be about racism?  Do you agree that it was?  What did you think about these other incidents – racism or not?

a.       In 1861, Thomas Scott told Jarret that he did not believe in slavery, but Jarret thought he might “not hold with it…but don’t mind holding the cash that comes from it” (page 306).

b.       In talking with Catherine, she compared slavery with the upper-class attitude to the lower classes in England and said, “I mean, not everything has to be about race, does it?” (page 277).  Theo found this comment offensive.

c.       Theo’s advisor asked him about his dissertation, “Why must you illustrate these cases, where enslaved people are not depicted in a dehumanized and stereotypical say?  It is rare and exceptional” (page 291). 

d.       What happened to Theo (page 348).

 

7.       In 1961, when Mary’s husband, Robert, returned from the war, she and her son left Jarret to go with him.  Jarret seemed to accept that outcome.  Were you surprised about her decision?

8.       Before you knew the ending, did you think Theo should have given the painting back to his neighbor?

9.       Why do you think Scott’s paintings of Lexington were so popular?

10.   What did you learn from this book? For example, I learned that museums use bugs to clean bones (page 135) and conditions that affect the whale population in the North Atlantic (noise, wind farms - page 48).

11.   Discuss your reading experience.  Did you like the organization, how the story progressed, the ending? 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

 

Characters
Francie’s family	Neighborhood
Francie Nolan Katie Rommely Nolan – mother Johnny Nolan – day Neeley – brother Annie Laurie - baby   Mary and Thomas Rommely – grandparents Eliza – second daughter, became a nun   Aunt Sissy – married 3 times, lost 10 babies John/Steve – 3rd husband Sarah “Little Sissy” – adopted but pretended her own Stephen Aaron – Sissy’s baby   Aunt Evy Willie Flittman – one-man band, ran away   Ruthie and Mickey Nolan – men all died young Sons – Andy, George, Frankie, Johnny   Sargent McShane   Ben Blake – helped Francie with school, gave her his class ring	Shopkeepers: The Hebrew – pickles Gimpy – candy store Cheap Charlie’s – penny candy store Carney – bought things from kids, extra penny for pinching girls’ cheeks Hassler – butcher, soup bone Werner – butcher, meat   The Librarian   Flossie Gaddis – neighbor, worked in glove factory Henry – brother, consumption   Frank – drove wagon advertising for dentist   Little Tilly Gussie – brother   Mr. McGarrity – saloon keeper Mae – wife

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2001 Harper Perennial Modern Classic edition.

1.       The novel is about Francie’s life from age 11 to 17.  How did she change during this time?  What experiences were important to her growth?

2.       When it was time for the children to be vaccinated in order to attend school, “Weeping mothers brought bawling children” (page 144) to the clinic.   Katie did not go with Francie and Neeley because she reasoned, “why shouldn’t one of the three be spared” (page 144).   Did you understand this reasoning?  Do you remember getting vaccinated as a child?

3.       Katie told Francie that one reason for the vaccination was that it “makes you tell your left hand from your right” (page 147).  Francie was left-handed, but after this she began to use her right hand.   Do you remember anyone of your friends being forced to use their right hand when they were left-handed?

4.       What did you think about the religious assembly where a rich girl wanted to give her doll away to a “poor little girl in the audience named Mary” (page 212).  No one would volunteer because of the use of the word “poor” but Francie lied and got the doll.   After that she was made fun of, and Francie came to understand that the other girls had something she did not, “pride” (page 213).  It turned out that Francie’s full name was Mary Frances Nolan.  Did this make her feel any better about thinking she lied to get the doll?

5.       When Katie asked her mother for advice about raising children, Mary Rommely told her that the keys to success were: reading and writing, imagination, learning the truth, suffering, believing in heaven, and owning a piece of land.  How good do you think this advice was?

6.       Why did Katie always favor Neeley?  For example, when high school was starting, she said Neeley had to go even though he did not want to and Francie did.  Her reasoning was that because Francie did want to go, she would find a way.  Was this fair?

7.       Before Francie moved, she went to Cheap Charlie’s and bought all of the numbers on the prize board.  As she expected, there were no big prizes on the board.    Charlie felt he was not cheating the children because they always got the penny candy they paid for and the chance to win made it more exciting.  Did you agree?

8.       Francie’s favorite place to read was on the fire escape above the tree, with ice water and peppermint wafers, “fire-escape-sitting-time” (page 25).   What is your favorite time and place to read?  This is a frequent question asked in author interviews in the New York Times Book Review.

9.       Francie and Neeley were described as “reading children” who “read everything they came across” (page 295).  Can you relate to this characteristic?  What things can’t you resist reading?

10.   What was your favorite part of the story?  Which characters did you find more compelling or interesting?

11.   This novel was selected as one of the Books of the Century by the New York Public Library.  Why is it so popular?

 

Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue

 

Characters
Jende Jonga – from Limbe, Cameroon Neni – wife Liomi – son Amatimba Monyengi “Timba” – newborn daughter   Bubaker – lawyer, Nigerian   Winston – cousin, lawyer Jenny – girlfriend Maami – high school girlfriend   Fatou – Neni’s friend Betsy – Neni’s friend, American citizen   Bosco – Jende’s friend   Judson Memorial Church Natasha – pastor Amos – assistant pastor	Clark Edwards – Lehman Bros., Barclays Cindy – wife Vince – oldest son Mighty – son   Leah – Clark’s secretary   Anna – housekeeper   Ceci – Clark’s sister   Cheri – Cindy’s friend

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from  the paperback edition.

1.       Neni’s idea of America came from TV shows such as The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and also Mrs. Doubtfire (page 312).  What impression did she learn from these shows? 

2.       How important to the story is it that the reader is familiar with these shows?

3.       Did you think Anna and Nemi should have told Clark about Cindy’s drug and alcohol abuse?

4.       What did you think Jende should have done when Cindy asked him to keep a record of all of Clark’s activities?  Should he have told Clark (which he did)?  Should Jende have went against Clark’s request and included the stops at the Chelsea Hotel?  

5.       What did you think when you learned Cindy’s back story – mother raped, growing up poor?  Did this lead you to see her in a different light?

6.       Cindy said that growing up poor in Africa was different than in America.  She thought, in Africa, “being poor in Africa is fine.  Most of you are poor over there.  The shame of it, it’s not as bad for you” (page 123).  Do you think this is true?  Is it harder to be poor in America?

 7.       Jende thought that one of the differences between Africa and America as that, in Africa “for you to become somebody, you have to be born somebody first” (page 40).  There was no room for self-initiative unlike in America where you could be successful on your own effort and merit.  Do you agree?

8.       When Neni received money from Cindy that she earned, Cindy advised her that was her money also and she had a say in how it was spent.   Neni replied, “You think I’m an American woman? I cannot just tell my husband how I want something to be” (page 315).  Do you think this is a true comparison between the two cultures?

9.       After the fall of Lehman Brothers, the author wrote that the story, “in ordinary times would have been dismissed as rubbish” (page 212).  Instead, “the easy availability of stories on the private lives of others was turning adults, who would otherwise be enriching their minds with worthwhile knowledge, into juveniles who needed the satisfaction of knowing that others were more pathetic than themselves” (page 212).  Do you agree?

10.   Why did Clark seem so much happier after Cindy died, Lehman Bros. collapsed, he got a job in Washington D. C., and he and Mighty were headed to Virginia to live?  Was it a combination or was any one thing more important?

11.   Why do you think Jende was ready to go back to Africa?  At one point he said, “I don’t like what my life has become in this country” (page 306).  Is that a commentary on America or just his experience?

12.   Did reading this book help you understand the immigrant experience?  For example, Jende had no idea who to trust for advice about staying in the country – Bubaker or Winston.

The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn

 

Characters/People
Osla	Mab	Beth	Bletchley Park
Osla Kendall   Prince Philip of Greece   Lord Mountbatten – uncle and godfather   Mr. J. P. E. C. Cornwell   Author of Bletchley Bletherings   Engaged to Giles, 1947	Mabel Churt Mother Lucy – daughter, “younger sister”   Francis Gray – husband, poet, foreign official   Geoffrey Irving – he and friends raped Mabel   Mike – husband, worked at Bletchley Park Twins – Eddie and Lucy	Beth Finch Mother Father Boots - dog   Harry Zorb Sheila – wife Christopher – son, polio   “Alice Liddell” – alias in Clockwell sanitorium	Dillwyn Alfred Knox – “Dilly”   “Dillies Fillies”   Peter Twinn – took over department when Dilly ill   Commander Denniston   Commander Travis – replaced Denniston   Giles Talbot   Harry Zorb   Peggy Rock   Mad Hatters Book Group: Osla, Mab, Beth Giles Harry Glassborrow twins
Others
Ian Fleming, Alan Turing   Princess Elizabeth – “Lilibet”

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1.       Why do you think Beth’s mother treated her like she did?  Why didn’t her father step in?

2.       Were you surprised that Osla got into trouble for pranks such as sneaking in an electric cooker ring to make toast and riding a wheeled laundry bin down the hall into the men’s bathroom (page 271)?  Did this seem in her character?

3.       The third time was not a prank, but her attempt to show how easy it would be to smuggle out secret information.  She did this because people were starting to suspect there was a spy working with the group.  Commander Travis said, “I don’t think we need security advice from a silly deb” (page 273).  Why wasn’t she taken more seriously?

4.       When Beth was working, she was unaware of everything else.  For example, she did not realize that Dilly was terminally ill and that Peter Twinn had replaced him (pages 282-3).  Have you ever been so involved with something you were doing that you were unaware of everything else surrounding you?

5.       Mab blames Osla for Francis and Lucy’s deaths.   Did you understand her feelings?   Were they justified?

6.       In 1944 Peggy told Mab that Beth knew about the Coventry raid but did not tell her.   When Mab asked her why she did not warn them, Beth replied, “How could I put you ahead of everyone at Coventry who would have to sit the raid out, unknowing” (page 493)?  Mab’s reply was, “Because in a war, Beth, you save who you can. Whenever you can” (page 493).  Also, Beth was sworn to secrecy.  Do you think she should have broken the rule and warned them?

7.       What did you think about Osla being told not to write to Prince Philip because of Osla’s job and his sisters who were married to Nazis.  Would her letters have caused any harm? Or, should she have been able to tell him why she was not writing any more?

8.       What might have happened if Osla had not backed away from Philip?

9.       Harry and the other men working at Bletchley Park were looked down on because they were not actively fighting in the war and were often accosted in the street for not being in uniform.   Were you surprised about this? 

10.   At the same time, Osla told Harry that women were “only allowed this work because there’s a war on…and I still don’t get paid what you’re paid” (page 443).  How could they each cope with their feelings of unfairness?

11.   Mab found it difficult to adjust after the war.   After the war she had “peace, prosperity, all the things she’d dreamed of during the war years” (page 404).  But on the other hand, she “wondered if it was purpose she missed…there were no great sweeps of passion or purpose to her days” (page 404).  How hard do you think it was for the code breakers to adjust to daily life after the war?

12.   When Mab and Mike met helping Beth, neither one knew the other had also worked at BP.  How hard would it be to sustain a marriage or a friendship when you could not talk about your day to day life and work?

13.   Were you surprised to find that Giles was the traitor?  He was giving information to the Soviets, US allies, and felt that was the right thing to do to help them in the war.  He also thought he “saved thousands of Allied lives in the USSR” (page 526).  Does this justify what he did?  Does the fact that he took money for the information matter?

14.   When Osla and Mab were interviewed about Beth, do you think they would have defended her more if the raid at Coventry had not happened?  

15.   How did all the secrets (Osla told not to write to Philip, Beth not sharing information about the raid, Giles giving information to the Soviets, both Mab and Mike at BP but unable to share with each other) impact the story?

16.   Did you like the organization of the novel – going between 1939-1944 and the days leading up to the royal wedding?