Lady Tan's Circle of Women, by Lisa See

 

Mansion of Golden Light Tan family	Garden of Fragrant Delight Yang family
Tan Yunxian Poppy – slave Respectful Lady – mother – died of foot infection Father   Miss Zhao – father’s concubine Yiteng – son   Grandfather Tan – Gentleman Scholar of the 7th Rank Grandmother Ru- doctor, from family of doctors   Tan Jing – father’s older brother	Maoren Yang – Yunxian’s husband Master Yang – father Lady Kuo – mother   Second Uncle – 2nd in line to inherit after Maoren   Women in compound: Uncle’s wives and Spinster Aunt Concubines Maoren’s sisters   Snowpink and Snowgoose – Maoren’s concubines   Miss Chen – Master Yang’s concubine Manzi – son – would inherit if Maoren had no son (was really Doctor Wong’s son)   Yunzian and Maoren’s children: Ailan, Chunlan, and Yuelen – daughters Lian – son   Doctor Wong - gave medicine to harm Yunxian but Meiling took it instead and lost baby   Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor
Midwife Shi Meiling – daughter, became midwife and Midwife Shi after mother died Zhang Kailoo – husband, tea merchant   Forbidden City – Hongzhi emperor Empress Zhang – pregnant and eye infection, requested Yunxian for treatment on Meiling’s recommendation Both Yunxian and Meiling pregnant   Coroner Sun – investigate death of Spinster Aunt and medicine given by Dr. Wong

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.      In Yunxian’s lessons she learned that “…we are a man’s possessions.  We women exist to give him heirs and feed, clothe, and amuse him” (page 6).  How was she able to achieve what she did?  What character traits or events led her to become a doctor?  What role did Grandmother Ru play?

2.      Yunxian realized that “His (grandfather) learning comes from reading books; Grandmother Ru’s training comes from following her parents, who learned from their parents, who learned from their parents, and so on” (page 31).  How do you learn best – through reading or hands-on?

3.      After Yunxian was married, she sent secret letters to Meiling through Poppy.  But Poppy betrayed her and gave the letters to Lady Kuo.  Why did she do that?

4.      Can you understand the reasoning behind foot-binding?  Yunxian thought, “Our tottering and swaying on our spindly and weak legs make us appealing to men, but a single misstep or fall can change our futures” (page 73).

5.      Did you like all of the sayings and rules throughout the book, or were they a distraction?  Were there any you particularly liked?  Two of my favorites are:

a.      “A woman who helps others helps herself.” (page 220)

b.      “Friendship is a contract between two hearts.  With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together.” (page 331)

6.      Meiling was Yunxian’s best friend.  Why did she take the medicine herself that Doctor Wong sent for Yunxian?

7.      Did you like the additional story line of Doctor Wong, Miss Chen, and Spinster Aunt’s murder?  Did this add to the book for you?

8.      Were you at all familiar with this period of Chinese history?  What facts surprised you?

9.      Tan Yunxian and her book are real and the book is still available today.  In the Acknowledgments, the author wrote that many of the formulas in the book are used in traditional Chinese medicine today.  What do you think she know about medicine that is still applicable today?

10. Are there any particular events or scenes you remember from the novel?

11. Discuss your reading experience.  Did you enjoy the story?  Would you recommend this book to a friend?

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

 

Characters

Bob Burgess – lawyer, told he was in drivers’ seat when car rolled down hill and killed father Margaret Estaver – wife, Unitarian minister   Jim – Bob’s older brother, really caused car accident Helen – wife, died Larry – son   Susan Olson – Bob’s twin sister     Pam – Bob’s first wife Ted - husband   Olive Kitteridge – age 90, in personal care home Isa – younger sister   Isabelle Goodrow – Olive’s friend in home   Lucy Barton – fiction writer, Bob’s friend William Gerhardt – ex-husband, lives with Lucy   Matthew Beach – painted pregnant nudes Gloria – mother, “Bitch Ball,” disappeared, body found in car in river Diana – sister, told guidance counselor she was abused by father, told scary stories on playground to other children, killed mother, suicide Thomas – brother   Avery Mason – Unitarian church member, slept through sermons, was going to try to get Margaret removed but died, her sermons improved after his death   Ashley Monroe – one of Matthew’s models, Gloria used her ID to rent car

  

Stories Lucy and Olive told each other

Olive’s mother was in love with Stephen Turner, her mother broke them up, they both named their daughters Olive and Isa   Janice Tucker – hairdresser, mother died when Janice was young, affair with college professor, husband suspected of being gay, she was a “sin-eater” (page 86) (ate other people’s sins)   Pauline – in love with a fisherman, sent to England to forget, married a wealthy man, daughter mental issues   Muddy Wilson – history teacher, wife died of cancer, he suffered and then remarried multiple times   Addie Beal – Lucy’s friend at college, charmed childhood (scrapbooks) but difficult adult, died young of cancer   Lucy’s love affair with Bob that never happened

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.      One major part of the book was Lucy and Olive sharing stories of unrecorded lives.  At one point, Olive said to Lucy that she didn’t know what the point of the stories and people’s lives were.  Lucy answered, “People and the lives they lead.  That’s the point” (page 225).  Did you see any other points to sharing the stories?

2.      There was a lot of tragedy in the book – suicides, abuse, affairs, etc.  What, if anything, did you find positive?

3.      Were there any places in the book that you found humorous?  I liked when Olive first met Lucy and she was wearing boots.  Olive thought, “And she had the strangest things on her feet, boots with long big silver zippers right up the front of them…There’s no snow on the ground, don’t know why you need boots” (page 10).

4.      There were A LOT of characters in the book!  How did you keep them all straight?  Were there any that you particularly liked or disliked?

5.      Why do you think the author included so many characters.  There were several (or a lot!) that were only mentioned once or twice.  For example, Charlene Biibber (cleaning lady) and Carl Dyer who eventually got her to withdraw from society.

6.      Why did Margatet’s sermons improve after Avery Mason died?

7.      On page 118, why were Matt’s fingertips red and raw?  I thought this was a clue that he killed his mother, but that was not correct.  Why the the author include this detail?

8.      Gaslighting is defined as “the use of psychological manipulation to undermine a person’s faith in their own judgement, memory, or sanity” (according to the dictionary on my phone!).  Did you know what it was when you read about it?  How did people do this in the story?

9.      Discuss Bob and Lucy’s relationship. When something happened, the first person Bob wanted to tell was Lucy.  On page 227 they were described as “happy, these two – walking and talking – they were just happy.”

10. Last month we read Olive Kitteridge by the same author.  Did this novel stay true to the character from that book?   Did reading that book add to your enjoyment of this book?

 

 

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

 

Characters
1 – Pharmacy	2 – Incoming Tide
Olive Kitteridge -high school math teacher Henry – pharmacist Christopher – son, podiatrist   Denise Thibedes – clerk in pharmacy Henry – husband, killed in hunting accident   Jerry McCarthy – delivery person, married Denise	Patty Howe – waitress, miscarriages   Kevin Coulson – contemplating suicide, studied psychiatry
3 – The Piano Player	4 – A Little Burst
Angela O’Meara – piano player in bar   Malcolm Moody – affair   Walter Dalton   Simon – lawyer, used to play piano	“little bursts” – small kindnesses   Dr. Suzanne – marries Christopher (Olive steals her bra and puts marker line on sweater)
5 – Starving	6 – A Different Road
Harmon – owns marina Bonnie – wife Children – Kevin, Derrick and 2 more   Daisy Foster – affair with Harmon Copper – deceased husband	Christopher and Suzanne – move to CA   Hospital – 2 men rob hospital for drugs and hold Olive, Henry and two others in restroom
7 – Winter Concert	8 – Tulips
Bob Houlton Jane – school nurse   Alan and Donna Granger – “The Lydias”	Henry – stroke, in nursing home   Roger Larkin Louise – guidance counselor Doyle – son, stabbed someone
9 – Basket of Trips	10 – Ship in a Bottle
Ed Bonney – grocer, funeral Marlene – widow Children – Ed (coast guard), Lee Ann (nursing school), Cheryl (high school)   Kerry Monroe – cousin, lived above garage, brief affair with Ed	Anita and Jim Harwood   Julie – 21, engaged, fiancé (Bruce) called off wedding at the ceremony, she went to Boston to see him   Winnie – age 11
11 – Security	12 – Criminal
Christopher – in New York Ann – second wife, pregnant Theodore and Annabelle – Ann’s children from two different relationships   Sean O’Casey – upstairs tenant Jim – father, reciprocal attraction with Olive   Olive went to visit at Christopher’s request   Olive held by airport security for refusing to take off shoes	Rebecca Brown Father – minister Mother -ran away, actress, Scientologist   David - boyfriend
13 – River
Jack Kennison – Harvard grad Wife – deceased   Shared meals out with Olive

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2008 Random House Trade Paperback edition.

1.      Was this one story with many chapters or a collection of short stories with recurring characters?  What were you expecting and how did you understand the book once you started?

2.      Besides the Kitteridge’s, were there any other characters that stood out for you, that you remember?

3.      What did you think about Olive?   Would you want to know her?   Do you think you would be friends?

4.      Olive and her son, Christopher, never seemed to be able to communicate well.  Why was Christopher “never able to say, ‘Mom, I miss you.’” (page 211)?  Was it more his fault, Olive’s fault, or just their personalities?

5.      At the end of “Criminal,” Rebecca overheard two policemen telling a man from the bar who they arrested, “You have the right to remain silent” (page 250).  She then took a barbecue starter, old postcards from her mother, and two cigarette lighters and left the house.   The last sentence was, “If would be worth the arrest if they put it like that.” (page 250).   What did you think Rebecca was going to do?

 

6.      One statement that stood out for me was the idea of “big bursts” (big moments in life like marriage or children) and “little bursts” (small kindnesses from people you meet during your day) on pages 68 and 69.  Olive thought the big bursts “held dangerous, unseen currents” (page 68) which was why the little bursts throughout the day were so important.  Do you think this is true?

7.      What examples of “big bursts” and “little bursts” did you find throughout the novel?

8.      Six of the chapters were published as stand-alone short stories in magazines such as Seventeen and The New Yorker.  (See copyright page.)  How do you think they would have been received in that format?

9.      In an interview at the end of my copy of the book, the author was asked what she hoped readers would get out of reading this book.  Her reply was, “I would hope that my readers feel a sense of awe at the quality of human endurance” and “I would also hope that readers receive a larger…or different understanding, of what it means to be human” (page 281).  Is this what you took away from the book?   If not, did you gain any other insight?

10. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009.   The criteria are that the book has to be by a distinguished American author and should preferably deal with American life.   Did this book do that for you?

Circe, by Madeline Miller

 

Characters
Titans	Olympians
Helios – father Perse – mother Circe - nymph Pasiphae – sister Perses – brother Aeetes – brother, gave to Circe to raise   Medea – Aeetes’ daughter   Prometheus – punished for not obeying Olympians   Phaethousa – half sister   Scylla – nymph, Circe turned her into a monster (12 legs, 6 heads)	Zeus   Athena – daughter Hermes – son Apollo -son   Ares – brother
Mortals	Others
Daedalus – craftsman Icarus - son   Glaucos – Circe turned him into a god, rejected Circe for Scylla   Minos – son of Zeus and mortal mother   Odysseus Telemachus – son with Penelope (wife) Telegonus – son with Circe	Minotaur – Pasiphae’s baby, monster, head of a bull, body of a man, ate humans
Island of Aiaia
Circe banished to island Telegonus – son with Odysseus   Nymphs – sent to island as punishment   Odysseus Penelope and Telemachus   Discovered power of flowers “apotrope” – turning aside of evil   Hermes – son of Zeus, hiding from Apollo (brother)   Turned shipwrecked men into pigs if they attacked her

 

NOTE: Pages are from hardback edition.

1.      What did you think about Odysseus?  Telemachus thought that he had had “a bad life” (page 320), and that “he made life for others a misery” (page 321).  He blamed him for not returning home after the war and thought his mother, in particular, would have been happier.  Why did he decide to spend such a long time on Aiaia?

2.      Both Circe and Penelope found peace on Aiaia.  Do you think they could have found this same peace somewhere else?  What is your Aiaia?

3.      Athena offered Telemachus a new kingdom in the West and told him he would “found a prosperous city there, you will…seed a great people who will rule in ages to come” (page 351).  He turned down this offer and instead chose to be a regular man.  Why did he do this?

4.      Were you surprised that Telegonus accepted the above offer?

5.      What did you think about the end when Circe decided to become mortal?

6.      Do you enjoy reading about Greek mythology?  If not, how did this affect your reading and understanding of the book?

7.      Did you enjoy the writing?  Was there anything that jumped out at you that you particularly liked?  Two sentences that I remember are:

a.      When Circe and Pasiphae were talking in the bedroom and the author wrote about Pasiphae, “She was leaning forward, her golden hair loose, embroidering the sheets around her” (page 146).

b.      Describing Scylla turning into a monster, “A hideous leg.  Like a squid’s, boneless and covered in slime.  It burst from her belly, and another burst beside it, and more and more, until there were twelve in all dangling from her” (page 58)

8.      Did you have difficulty keeping all the characters straight?  When did you discover the list at the back of the book and how often did you reference it?

The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah

 

Characters

Vianne Mauriac Antoine – husband, drafted Sophie – daughter, stuffed bear Bebe (gave to Ari) Julian – son   Isabelle Rossignol– Vianne’s sister, always sent away to school after mother died Juliette Gervaise – false name, took downed airmen across the mountains to safety   Rossignol -father, forger for underground   Rachel de Champlain – Vianne’s best friend, taught together, Jewish Sarah – daughter, shot by Germans Ari – infant son, given to Vianne to save, “Daniel”   Gaetan Dubois “Gaet” - helped saved downed airmen, romance with Isabelle   Paris underground: Monsieur Levy Gaet Anouk Henri – ran hotel in town Didier   Captain Holfgang Beck – lived with family, good to family, killed by Vianne to save Isabelle   Sturmbannfuher Von Richter – second soldier living with Vianne, raped her

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2017 paperback edition.

1.      Discuss the various characters.  Were there any that you keep thinking about after you finished the book?  How did Isabelle’s childhood prepare her for her work with the resistance?

2.      Were you surprised when you read that Vianne and Isabelle’s father was really working for the resistance and that is why, toward the end of the novel, he did not want Isabelle around?

3.      When Vianne discovered Isabelle and the dead airman in the hiding place in the garage (page 372), should she have asked more questions or was her reaction to yell at Isabelle understandable?

4.      What do you think prompted Captain Beck to search Vianne’s house and subsequently find Isabelle, thus leading to Vianne killing him?  Did Vianne suddenly look guilty when he was talking about not finding the downed pilot and how that would hurt his reputation?

5.      Were you able to understand the complicated relationship between Vianne and Beck?  He basically was a good man and did things to help such as getting Ari papers so he was saved.  Also, the family would have greatly suffered without his help with food.

6.      When Beck asked Vianne for the names of teachers at the school, did she have any choice but to comply?  This basically insured that Rachel would be sent to a concentration camp.

7.      Did you like the ending?  Were you surprised to learn that Vianne had saved 19 Jewish children.

8.      Discuss your reading experience.   How did you approach the difficult subject in the book?  Would you recommend the book to a friend?

All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

 

Characters

“Patch” Joseph Macauley Ivy – mother   Saint – career in law enforcement, devoted much of life to finding Patch Norma – grandmother   Misty Meyer – Patch saved her from attack Mary - grandmother   Chief Nix   Dr. Tooms – in jail for taking girls   Eli Aaron – photographer, did high school pictures – admitted to taking girls, stabbed Patch and help captive Grace – daughter, visited Patch when he was held by Aaron   Jimmy Walters – married to Saint   Sammy – Monta Clare Fine Art – displayed and sold Patch’s paintings, gave him studio space to paint   Candice and Nicholas Addis – adopted Theodore, Saint and Jimmy’s child (although Saint told Jimmy she had an abortion)   Charlotte -daughter of Misty and Patch

Timeline of the sections

1975 – 1 and 2 1976 1978 1982 1983 ·       Patch searching for Grace across country.  Robbing banks.  Saint found, shot him and he ended in jail. 1990 ·       Misty died of cancer, gave Patch sole custody of Charlotte 1995 ·       Aaron alive – bought more rosary beads 1998 ·       Patch in jail for punching and accidentally killing Jimmy Walters, escaped ·       Rearrested at Aaron’s barn by Saint after he shot Aaron to save her ·       Saint – Chief of Monta Clare Police Department 2001 ·       Patch missing, on sailboat in Outer Banks

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       There were a lot of characters in the novel.   Which ones did you find most interesting?  How did you keep everyone straight?

2.       After Patch saved Misty and he was rescued, she kept wanting to be with him.   After a while he told her, “You’ve done it now Misty.  You reached out and I’m grateful and all…It’s just a reminder that things aren’t right with your world” (page 80).  She asked what she should do, and Patch answered, “you go back to your side of the street, Misty” (page 80).  Do you think she was relieved or sad to finally quit and move on?

3.       What did you think of Sammy and his art gallery?  He encouraged Patch to paint and then eventually Charlotte.

4.       What did you think about Marty Tooms, the doctor.   Where you surprised to read that he really was innocent except for doing secret abortions to help the high school girls?  Were you also surprised to learn that he was in a relationship with Chief Nix?

5.       The author lives in London. Being from Pittsburgh, what did you think when you read the reference to Mister Rogers, Lady Aberlin and Joe Negri on page 163.   The author obviously felt they had world-wide appeal and would be recognized by anyone.  Do you think the reference was taken differently by Pittsburghers compared to other readers not from this area?

6.       There was a lot about loss in this novel.  For example, on page 68, when talking with her grandmother, “Saint wanted to ask what it was like, to lose the thing that defined you.  But perhaps she knew: it left you someone else.”  Did this offer any insights to your thinking about loss?  How did this play out in the rest of the story?  Who else experienced loss – or did no one in the book escape it?

7.       Did you like the part where Patch escaped from jail with the help of all the people working there who were connected to the missing girls that he helped find?  (Owen Williams who cut power line was Lucy’s father, Patch found Cooper Strike’s missing sister and brought her home.)

8.       In chapters 252 and 253, Patch shot Aaron to save Saint who then arrested him, probably because he was an escapee.  What do you think happened between then and 2001 when Patch was in the sailboat?

9.       If he could have, do you think Patch would have gone back to Grace?

10.   What was your reading experience?  Did you sometimes skip ahead, maybe at some point read the ending?  Did you have trouble keeping the characters, the dead girls, and their parents straight?  Could the book have been shorter?

11.   Why is this book so popular?

Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney

 

Characters

Peter Koubek – older brother, lawyer Sylvia Larkin – professor, chronic pain Naomi – college student   Ivan Koubek – younger brother, chess champion Margaret Kearns – Peter’s age, runs arts and recreation center   Father – died of cancer at beginning of story   Christine – mother, left family when Ivan was 5 Frank – new husband Darren – son, 3 ½ years older than Ivan   Alexei – dog

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: All page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.      There were a very small number of important characters in the novel.  How well did the author develop their personalities and feelings?  Which ones did you feel connected to?  Which ones would you have liked to know?

2.      Did you like the author’s writing style – no quotation marks, short incomplete sentences,  (see page 68 when describing Peter’s drug use), very long paragraphs sometimes four pages?  Was her writing style effective to the topic of the book?

3.      Grief was a major topic running throughout the novel, particularly with Peter.  How did the author handle this topic?  Was she effective?

4.      The author addressed other heavy subjects such as what work has value (page 107) and Jesus vs. God (pages 189-190).  Did this add to the novel for you or was it a distraction?

5.      Ivan was concerned about the environment and therefore would not fly or wear new clothes except for underwear?  What did that tell you about his character?

 

6.      Peter and Sylvia were in a serious relationship when Sylvia’s accident happened.  She told him she was not going to ruin his life and to leave.   At that point Peter threw a candlestick to the ground and eventually contemplated suicide.  Could this situation have been saved or handled differently?

7.      Peter also had a falling out with Ivan and stopped all contact with him.  Were these things Peter’s fault?  Should others have seen what a difficult time he was having after his father’s death and helped him?

8.      In the end, Peter and Sylvia decide to go ahead with what feels right to them which involved including Naomi in their relationship.  And then Margaret and Peter decide that perhaps all five will spend Christmas together and not worry about what others will think.  Do you think this will work?

9.      This book received multiple awards and mentions including being a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Book of the Year, Associated Press Top 10 Books of the Year, a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times and others.  Why do you think it received so much attention?  Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?