Our meeting takes place tomorrow evening in Billingshurst, and here are some suggestions for questions based on the novel:
- How convincing is the relationship between victim and stalker as portrayed in the novel?
- What are the effects of some of the narrative devices - a reflective journal directed at Rafe, structured around a separate court case?
- Consider the different women in the novel, including the taxi driver who defends Clarissa, Rowena, Clarissa's friend, and Carlotta Lockyear at the centre of the trial. How are women portrayed, collectively?
- How does this compare with the other male characters: DC Hughes, Henry (Clarissa's former boyfriend, Robert (the fireman)?
- What do the references to poetry add to the novel? Keats, Yeats, Anne Sexton...?
- How important is Clarissa's memory of being punched and robbed of her bag when she was just a teenager?
- Discuss the violence of the images depicted in the photographs.
- What is the significance of Clarissa's sewing hobby. How is it woven (sorry!) through the novel?
- What do you think of the ending?
I am very sorry to have missed last month's discussion of Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup. If anyone has any comments or a score I am happy to add them.
