Little Bee / The Other Hand - Questions

Hello everyone,

Here are some questions to think about for the meeting on Thursday:

- Little Bee says of horror films, “Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it” (p. 45). Do you agree? Was reading this novel in any way a dose of horror for you? How did it help you reflect on the presence or lack of horror in your own life?

- Little Bee figures out the best way to kill herself in any given situation, just in case “the men come suddenly.” How do these plans help Little Bee reclaim some power? Were you disturbed by this, or were you able to find the humor in some of the scenarios she imagines?

- Suicide comes up several times in the novel. Do you think there is a difference in the refugee's suicide in the barn and Andrew's?

- Why do you think Andrew refused to cut off his finger but Sarah was able to? Do you think you would have?

Questions from Good Reads.

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

This book is definitely a marmite book, you either love it or you hate it. We had both ends of the scale in the bookclub on Thursday.

Thos that didn't enjoy it as much felt that there were too many in jokes, it felt as you were reading that you might be missing things that other readers were enjoying. Often we felt that characters were more along the lines of plot devices rather than actual characters. They sometimes didn't make a great deal of sense other than to make something happen within the story. For example, Hades was hard to understand as a character but was better understood as a plot device.

We all agreed it was in a similar vein to Terry Pratchett, it felt very light hearted for an adult novel although it also contained a great deal of deeper literary references. It felt to many of the group like a comic book that had been created in written rather than pictorial form. We could all see it clearly as a film or a cartoon rather than a book. This is interesting because Jasper worked originally in film, maybe his film eye is better than his writing eye?

One important thing to note is the length of time is takes to get into a Jasper Fforde book, this was not something some of the members enjoyed. It really does take a while for his books to get going so there's a lot of investment of time reading the first book of a series. Once you get into further books the investment then pays off, but this is not immediately obvious on only reading the first book from one of his series.

The most interesting thing to many of the members was the love of literature shown by everyone in Jasper's world. We wondered what it would be like if our world valued writing and books in the same way, rather then fixating on famous people and sports stars. We also tried to decide whether we would prefer to be able to time travel or book jump as a special skill. Some prefered to visit their favourite novels, others would prefer to travel in time to (for example) find out who wrote the Shakepeare plays!

Overall we gave the book 7 out of 10 with scores ranging from 2 to 9 showing the love/hate relationship readers had with this book. Those that enjoyed would like to go on and read other books by Jasper.

The Eyre Affair- Questions

Hello,

Here are some questions to direct our discussion next Thursday (27th October):

- Who is the worse villain, Acheron Hades or Jack Schitt? Which sentence do you think is worse—death by a silver bullet to the heart or an eternity trapped in Poe's "The Raven"?

- Thursday says, "All my life I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve. Few of us have any real idea what it is we are here to do and when it is that we are to do it. Every small act has a knock-on consequence that goes on to affect those about us in unseen ways. I was lucky that I had so clear a purpose." In a world where time is so pliable, can there be such a thing as destiny? Was there a defining moment in your life when you understood what your own purpose was?

- Acheron Hades claims that pure evil is as rare as pure good. Do you think either exists in our world?

Questions from Reading Group Guides.

Birdsong

This month most people finished the book, which is excellent news!

There was a great deal of divided opinion about the first section of Birdsong. Many of the group felt that the writing style was so different to the rest of the book it could have been written by an entirely different person to the rest of the book.

Everyone felt that the descriptions of the war and especially the mining sections were very vivid. Many people were extremely moved by these sections. It was all found to be very harrowing, we wondered how human beings were able to do what they did. We also thought about whether people today would be able to have the same attitude as those of the first world war.

The group was shocked at the lack of information being given to those people still at home. The letters they sent and the scenes when soldiers went home seemed to be from a different world. They talked of sending cake to the boys, when those boys were facing death and watching their friends die every day. A massive juxtaposition of worlds only a small channel of water apart.

As a glance into the history of the UK, this book works very well. It shows how much we as Britons have changed in our attitude towards our country and towards our fellow man. We seem to value our lives a great deal more as individuals, throughout the book the men were most often looked at as a group rather than individuals. We thought that this was probably true of the time, people died much easier in this time than today.

A lot of the coping mechanisms were very interesting, trying to forget those who had died, while also somehow thinking they were still part of your group. Also, the belief systems they created so ensure that they felt they were going to survive, the faux-voodoo, and betting games.

Overall this book really affected a great deal of the book club, we decided to give it 7 out of 10.

Birdsong - Questions

Hello everyone,

Thought i'd send out the questions for next week just in case the email fails us again.

- Why does Isabelle leave Stephen? How does her departure affect his identity as a soldier, the way he approaches the war, and the manner in which he conducts himself during it?

- How would you describe the character of Jack Firebrace? How does it change during the course of the war? What "dies" in him when Horrocks hurls his cross away? What do his letters to Margaret reveal about his character, his values, his code of behavior?

- Elizabeth is spurred on in her research by a feeling of the "danger of losing touch with the past" [p. 240]. Does her ignorance of recent history surprise you, or do you find it characteristic of her generation? Do you find that you, and the people around you, are similarly detached from the past?

I hope everyone is enjoying this months book choice!

Questions from Random House.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Unfortunately, due to the size of this book, many people in the bookclub weren't able to finish , myself included. Many people found it very confusing with lots of people most of whom changed their names during the book. We thought it might be useful to have some kind of list of the characters involved and a description, plus maybe a timeline so readers don't get quite so lost. It also seemed to take a very long time to get anywhere with lots of very fomal language being used, which is suitable for the time period but not to our modern tastes. The parts of the novel which seemed more interesting were also the parts that seemed to go by very quickly, although this might be put down to the difference between time going fast when you're busy, and slowly when you're bored.

We weren't sure whether it was the fact that this book was translated that had many of us confused and bored. If we were reading it in the original French it may make more sense in terms of style. It may also be our lack of knowledge of French history that had us confused as well, not knowing what the characters were discussing in terms of wars etc. was a problem.

There was a great deal of allegory in this book, something we're possibly not used to reading in more current novels. Dantes seems to be the tool of an avenging God throughout much of the book. Up until the point where they had a duel, after which it seemed to change to each person becoming an individual rather than a collection of social mores.

We all agreed that the book was highly unbelievable throughout with many storylines tidying themselves up very neatly. This is odd as the book was actually based on a true story, we assumed that the author took a great deal of artistic licence with it.

Overall we gave this book 6 out of 10. There is the core of a very good story, it's just a shame that it takes such a long time to get anywhere.

The Count of Monte Cristo - Questions

Hello everyone,

Here are some questions about the book for this week. Don't worry if you haven't finished the book you're still welcome to come and eat cake instead!

- The central issue in The Count of Monte Cristo is the question of revenge. In the case of this book, is Dantes' quest for vengeance morally just? Can vengeance ever stand in for justice?

- Discuss Villefort's decision to imprison Dantes. He believes Dantes has been unfairly accused, but at the same time he fears for his own father's life.

- Talk about Dantes' profound alienation when he escapes from prison and his gradual movement back into reconciliation with humanity. How does that development take place: what and the plot benchmarks who are characters who help him regain his humanity.

- Do you think that 'The Count Of Monte Cristo' has a message? If so, what do you think it is? 

See you all on Thursday.

Questions from LitLovers.