The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, by Michael Chabon

 

Characters Takes place in Pittsburgh, PA in the summer following college graduation.

Art Beckstein – narrator Joe – father, gangster Mother – deceased   Lenny Stern – uncle, lieutenant in Pittsburgh organized crime Aunt Elaine   Phlox Lombardi – Girl Behind the Glass at the Library   Arthur Leconte Ondine – mother, cleaning woman   Cleveland Arning Jane Bellweather – girlfriend, golfer   Mohammed “Momo” - friend   Gangsters: Jim Breezy Frankie Breezy Carl Puniche – fences stolen jewelry Feldman Lurch   Locations: Boardwalk Books The Cloud Factory The Lost Neighborhood Various neighborhoods around Pittsburgh

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 1989 Perennial Library edition.

1.       Discuss the various characters.  Were you able to understand their motivations?  Were they portrayed well and so that you could connect with them?

2.       Cleveland’s excuse for never doing anything was that, “Every one of his failings has a perfectly good excuse.  Usually some kind of disaster… so Cleveland is pardoned from every having to do anything good, or productive, ever again” (page 126).   Were you able to understand this about Cleveland?  Was there anything that could be done to help him?

3.       One time when Cleveland and Art were out at a bar, Cleveland said to Art, “Let’s get some pickled eggs” (page 112).   Do you make and like pickled eggs?

4.       The last sentence in the novel is, “No doubt all of this is not true remembrance but the ruinous work of nostalgia, which obliterates the past, and no doubt, as usual, I have exaggerated everything” (page 297).  Did this give you a different idea of the novel?

5.       Many classic novels and authors were mentioned in the novel: Ten Tales of Tension and Terror (Poe, page 231), The Happy Prince (Wilde, 98), and Garcia Marquez (page 111).  Did this add to the novel for you?  Why do you think the author added these?

6.       This novel was first published in 1988 and received rave reviews.  How do you think it would be received today?

7.       The blurbs on the cover of the 1989 edition compare the novel to Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Art Beckstein to Tom Sawyer and Holden Caulfield.  Do you agree?

8.       Is there anything we can learn from this novel today?

The Christie Affair, by Nina du Gramont and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, by Marie Benedict

 NOTE: Members of my book group read both or either one of these novels.

Facts/Real People: Agatha Christie Archibald Christie – was having an affair with, and later married, Nancy/Theresa Neele Daughter Rosaline She worked in a dispensary during the war and learned about poisons Agatha did disappear for 11 days and was found at the Harrogate spa, registered as Theresa Nele She wrote three letters before disappearing: one to secretary that was turned over to the police, two others to Archie and her brother-in-law that were destroyed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did get a glove and ask a medium for help. She claimed she did not remember anything that happened.
The Christie Affair	The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
Agatha and Archie Christie Teddy – daughter Honoria – nanny and secretary   Nan O’Dea – mistress, narrator Genevieve - baby with Finbarr given for adoption Sisters – Coleen (deceased), Megs, Louisa Parents   Finbarr Mahoney   Deputy Chief Constable Thompson Inspector Frank Chilton – called out of retirement, found Agatha on day 4 but did not report it Sam Lippincott - police, with Chilton in war   Convent: Sister Mary Clare Father Joseph – rapist Nan (daughter Genevieve) Bess (son Ronan) – raped by Father Joseph   Bellefort Hotel and Spa – Harrogate Simon and Isabelle Leech – owners, Lippincott’s cousin Mr. and Mrs. Marston (Sister Mary Clare and Father Joseph) – murdered Lizzie (Bess) and Donny Clarke Mrs. and Mr. Race (Bess’ sister and husband)  Finbarr Chilton  Mrs. Cornelia Armstrong Nan “Genevieve O’Dea”	Agatha and Archie Christie Rosalind – daughter Charlotte Fisher – nanny and secretary   Agatha’s family: Mother Madge – older sister (12 years), writer Monty - brother   Sam and Madge Owens – golf friends   Nancy Neele – Archie’s mistress   Deputy Chief Constable Kenwood Superintendent Charles Goddard Commander Reynolds – Scotland Yard

For Discussion:

NOTE – Page numbers are from hardback editions of novels.

The Christie Affair – written from Nan’s point of view

1.       Was it logical that Finbarr kept showing up: at Ballycotton when he was sick, a year later when he found Nan in London when war ended, six years later he found Agatha when she crashed car, and then was at the Bellefort Hotel?

2.       Did you like that there were two focuses on the novel – Agatha’s disappearance and what happened to unwed mothers during this time period?  Do you agree with this statement?

3.       Discuss your reading experience.  Were you able to follow along, particularly everyone who was at Harrogate and who they really were?

4.       Did you like the last paragraph and the way the narrator spoke directly to the reader?

5.       Was the story believable?  Does that matter?

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

6.       Agatha’s mother’s advised to always put her husband first and do everything for his happiness, at the expense of herself and any children.   Do you think this was typical of the 1920s? 

7.       Archie was greatly changed when he came home from the war.   If this had not happened, do you think the outcome of their marriage would have been different?   Given the time, was there anything he or Agatha could do?

8.       Archie’s excuse for ending the marriage was, “I hate it when people are ill or unhappy.  It spoils everything for me.  It spoiled us, Agatha” (page 195).  Was this a result of his war experience or did you think he was always self-centered like this and kept it hidden?

9.       Did you understand that the manuscript Agatha kept referring to in Part Two was what you had read throughout the book?  If she had released it, do you think it would have had the intended result portraying Archie in a bad light?

Both novels

10.   Both novels have the same disclaimer on the copyright page: “The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used factiously.”  How important is it for the reader to keep this in mind?

11.   Compare how Archie was portrayed in the two books.  His portrayal in the Marie Benedict book was especially unflattering.  How fair is this to him if this is not true? 

Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle, by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg

 

People

Elizabeth Hughes Gossett Charles Evans Hughes – father, Supreme Court, Secretary of State for President Harding Antoinette – mother Siblings – Charles Jr., Helen (deceased), Catherine Blanche Burgess – nurse and constant companion Willian T. Gossett – husband

Frederick Grant Banting – discovered insulin Charles Best and Clark Noble – assistants Bert Collip – biochemist John James Rickard Macleod – supervisor, always used “we” when talking about discovery

Frederick Madison Allen The Physiatric Institute “The Allen Diet” Eddie – interested in birds with Elizabeth Teddy Ryder – scrapbook with pictures of food, died age 76, last surviving member of first group treated by Banding, scrapbook in Fisher Rare Book Library at University of Toronto

George Henry Alexander Clowes Employed by Eli Lilly Approached Banting and Best at conference to get drug for Eli Lilly

Others: Dr. Joe Gilchrist – first human to receive insulin on 12-20-1921

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2010 paperback edition.

1.       Could you survive on “The Allen Diet?”

2.       It was only two about two years from the time Banting started working on the drug until it became available to diabetes patients.   This is much faster than today, except for the COVID vaccine.   Would you have volunteered your child to be one of the first to receive insulin?

3.       Banting’s lab used (and killed) many dogs and rabbits.   Could this be done today?  Was it worth the sacrifice of all the animals?

4.       Should Elizabeth feel guilty that she got the drug at the expense of another child who did not?

5.       Discuss Charles Hughes and his decision to use his political influence to get help for Elizabeth.  Should he have had second thoughts because his position helped his daughter at the expense of another child whose father was not well known and connected.

6.       Why do you think there was such a drastic change in Charles after he got the help for Elizabeth?

 

7.       The authors wrote that, “Charles now understood something that Elizabeth had learned through her years of trial – that the purpose of living is not to preserve life but to lose it.  Living is by necessity a process of continuous loss” (page 212).  They then wrote that his request “had released Charles to become more fully human than he had ever dared to be” (page 212).    What do you think the authors meant?

 

8.       Why do you think the authors chose the four people they did as the focus for their book? 

9.       There was a celebration on the ship to initiate those who had never crossed the equator before into the “Sons of Neptune.”  Have you crossed the equator?  Are you a Son (or Daughter) of Neptune?

 

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.