The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Entirely accidentally we seem to have read several novels with African settings of late.
This was not what I had expected at all, and it was terrifyingly clear about the nature of dangers in the Congo.

Discussion Questions
1. What are the implications of the novel's title phrase, the poisonwood bible, particularly in connection with the main characters' lives and the novel's main themes? How important are the circumstances in which the phrase comes into being?
2. How does Kingsolver differentiate among the Price sisters, particularly in terms of their voices? What does each sister reveal about herself and the other three, their relationships, their mother and father, and their lives in Africa? What is the effect of our learning about events and people through the sisters' eyes
3. What is the significance of the Kikongo word nommo and its attendant concepts of being and naming? Are there Christian parallels to the constellation of meanings and beliefs attached to nommo? How do the Price daughters' Christian names and their acquired Kikongo names reflect their personalities and behavior?
4. The sisters refer repeatedly to balance (and, by implication, imbalance). What kinds of balance—including historical, political, and social—emerge as important? Are individual characters associated with specific kinds of balance or imbalance? Do any of the sisters have a final say on the importance of balance?
5. What do we learn about cultural, social, religious, and other differences between Africa and America? To what degree do Orleanna and her daughters come to an understanding of those differences? Do you agree with what you take to be Kingsolver's message concerning such differences?
6. Why do you suppose that Reverend Nathan Price is not given a voice of his own? Do we learn from his wife and daughters enough information to formulate an adequate explanation for his beliefs and behavior? Does such an explanation matter?
7. What differences and similarities are there among Nathan Price's relationship with his family, Tata Ndu's relationship with his people, and the relationship of the Belgian and American authorities with the Congo? Are the novel's political details—both imagined and historical—appropriate?
8. How does Kingsolver present the double themes of captivity and freedom and of love and betrayal? What kinds of captivity and freedom does she explore? What kinds of love and betrayal? What are the causes and consequences of each kind of captivity, freedom, love, and betrayal?
9. At Bikoki Station, in 1965, Leah reflects, "I still know what justice is." Does she? What concept of justice does each member of the Price family and other characters (Anatole, for example) hold? Do you have a sense, by the novel's end, that any true justice has occurred?
10. In Book Six, Adah proclaims, "This is the story I believe in..." What is that story? Do Rachel and Leah also have stories in which they believe? How would you characterize the philosophies of life at which Adah, Leah, and Rachel arrive? What story do you believe in?
11. At the novel's end, the carved-animal woman in the African market is sure that "There has never been any village on the road past Bulungu," that "There is no such village" as Kilanga. What do you make of this?

Igboland and Other Discussions

January to June this year have been a little disrupted at book club with lots of last minute changes to books, locations and dates; let's hope that normal service is resumed for the start of the new academic year in September.

But, what have I missed on the blog?

June - Igboland by Jeff Gardiner

I'm very sorry to have missed discussion of this book by our friend, Mr Gardiner, and here are the discussion questions:

1. How important is it that the narrative voice is that of an English woman?What does the novel have to say about female identity? Can a man really write a novel from a woman’s perspective?
2. How is Protestant Christian faith explored? How do you feel about Christian missionaries going to other countries?
3. What do you feel you have learned about Igbo culture and ‘Odinani’? Does it have anything to teach us?
4. How important is the cultural and geographical setting to the narrative? Have you ever experienced a culture shock? How did you feel?
5. The Biafran War continues throughout the novel in the background. Simplistically put, it was a civil war between the northern Muslim states and the Igbos in the south. Is the war typical of any other war? Is it an integral part of the novel or not? Does it symbolise anything?
6. How are the themes of marriage and family explored in ‘Igboland’? Is there a moral or message being offered, or is it left ambiguous?
7. Which of the characters are sympathetic or otherwise? What is their purpose in the novel? (Consider: Clem, Grace, Kwemto, Matthew, Mr Okadonye, Charlotte)
8. Is the ending satisfactory? What feelings did you have while reading the novel?
9. Do you have any questions you’d like to ask the author? 

April - Toby's Room by Pat Barker

March - May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes

February - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

January - Seventy Two Virgins by Boris Johnson

Boris's book was not popular in advance of the evening, though it did prompt some lively discussion!

1.  Do you care about the characters?  Is there anything to attach to as far as developing a feeling for the characters?

2.  Do you think the farce is carried on too long?  Why or why not?

3.  Is the text like many modern parodies; does it parody everything and everyone, is nothing sacred?

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I'm looking forward to discussing this book in Littlehampton next Wednesday, particularly since it is not what I thought it was at all.  There I was, judging a book by its cover again.  In fact, I was totally unprepared for this historical 'saga' with a twist, caught off guard by suddenly meeting Leon Trotsky, and bowled over by the captivating start and exotic settings. I loved the ending, which I can't really talk about in advance of our discussion and whilst some people are still reading; but, since we shall be on the coast for our next book club meeting - swim, anyone?

Here are the discussion questions:

1. What does Shepherd mean when he says, "The most important part of the story is the piece of it you don't know." And how does this oft stated remark relate to the book's title?

2. What is the significance of the book's title? What does it mean within the context of the novel?

3. Do Shepherd's diaries feel realistic to you? Does he sound like a 12-year old at the beginning...and later a mature man?

4. What prompts Harrison to begin his journals? Why does he write? What does he mean by referring to his notebook as "prisoner's plan for escape"?

5. Describe Shepherd, first as a 12-year-old and, later, as a mature adult. What kind of character is he? How does he change over the course of the novel?

6. How about Shepherd's mother? In what way does her profligate life affect how Shepherd decides to lead his own life?

7. Describe the Riviera/Kahlo household. How does Shepherd see Riviera's influence over Kahlo? Have you seen the movie Frieda? If so, does that film influence your reading of The Lacuana?

8. How does Kingsolver portray Leon Trotsky in this work? Were you aware of his background and the history of the Russian Revolution before you read the novel? If so, did your prior knowledge color your reading—or did your reading affect your knowledge?

9. Do you find the second-half of the novel, in the US, evocative of a time and place that no longer exists? If so, is that a good or bad thing? If not, what has remained the same? How does Kingsolver present those years?

10. What is Shepherd's relationship with his secretary, Violet Brown? What kind of character is she? Why does she want to preserve Shepherd's memory?

11. What role do the media play in this novel? Is it a fair or realistic portrait? What are the benefits of fame...and what are its costs?

12. Does this book enlighten you about the era of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings? Or do you feel this ground has been well tread by many others?

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

This month's meeting is in Billingshurst on Tuesday, and this month's book is one of the Booker Prize short-listed titles for 2013. I really enjoyed the fresh, vibrant voice, vivid descriptions and child-like detachment from the terrible atrocities being lived through by the novel's 10-year-old narrator, Darling.
Here are some questions for discussion:

What did you enjoy and/or find surprising about the style and tone of the narrative voice?

Bulawayo has revealed that Darling was based on a child in a photograph sitting on the rubble that was his bulldozed home after the Zimbabwean government carried out Operation Murambatsvina. How realistic do you find her portrayal?

How did the descriptions of the children's games inform the story?

How compelling did you find the episodic nature of the plot? Which episodes and characters stood out?

How are the female African characters portrayed?

Bulawayo is one of a number of African writers who have been accused of 'performing Africa'; that is to imbue writing with images and symbols which evoke pity and fear, not in the tragic and cathartic Aristotelean sense, but a 'CNN Western-media-coverage, poverty-porn representation. With allusions to genocide, political brutality, female circumcision, starvation, AIDS, is the novel guilty of this charge?

In what ways was America depicted as worse than the regime from which Darling has fled. Is this a successful representation of the illusionary nature of the American Dream?

How successfully is the 'immigrant story' explored?

What is the significance of the ending?

March by Geraldine Brooks

This is our second book by Geraldine Brooks; the first, People of the Book from way back in October 2010 was a popular choice, so it was with eager anticipation that I began reading this one. It is far too long since I last read 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott, the novel which provides the protagonist in March, Mr March, the father, so I have had a dip in to that too. I'm not entirely sure it was necessary since the book was an enjoyable stand-alone read, but it was a nice prompt to do so.

I particularly enjoyed the exposure of flaws in the character of Mr March, in spite of his generally good intentions, and this is something that I think is also there in Alcott's orginal. We meet this month in Horsham, and here are the discussion questions:

1.Throughout the novel, March and Marmee, although devoted to one another, seem to misunderstand each other quite a bit and often do not tell each other the complete truth. Discuss examples of where this happens and how things may have turned out differently, for better or worse, had they been completely honest. Are there times when it is best not to tell our loved ones the truth?

2.The causes of the American Civil War were multiple and overlapping. What was your opinion of the war when you first came to the novel, and has it changed at all since reading March?

3.March's relationships with both Marmee and Grace are pivotal in his life. Discuss the differences between these two relationships and how they help to shape March, his worldview, and his future. What other people and events were pivotal in shaping March's beliefs?

4.Do you think it was the right decision for March to have supported, financially or morally, the northern abolitionist John Brown? Brown's tactics were controversial, but did the ends justify the means?

5."If war can ever be said to be just, then this war is so; it is action for a moral cause, with the most rigorous of intellectual underpinnings. And yet everywhere I turn, I see injustice done in the waging of it," says March (p. 65). Do you think that March still believes the war is just by the end of the novel? Why or why not?

6.What is your opinion of March's enlisting? Should he have stayed home with his family? How do we decide when to put our principles ahead of our personal obligations?

7.When Marmee is speaking of her husband's enlisting in the army, she makes a very eloquent statement: "A sacrifice such as his is called noble by the world. But the world will not help me put back together what war has broken apart" (p. 210). Do her words have resonance in today's world? How are the people who fight our wars today perceived? Do you think we pay enough attention to the families of those in the military? Have our opinions been influenced at all by the inclusion of women in the military?

8.The war raged on for several years after March's return home. How do you imagine he spent those remaining years of the war? How do you think his relationship with Marmee changed? How might it have stayed the same?

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

Tonight's meeting takes place in Brighton.  Thank you to our host for searching out the questions!

Some beautiful writing, with a sense of impending doom right from the outset, even in the depiction of such a lovely world.  Complex representations of race and gender sit amidst compelling characterisation.  Ugwe was an extremely sympathetic character from the outset, in spite of his later actions; his emotions and motivations are so clearly depicted.

1. Ugwu is only thirteen when he begins working as a houseboy for Odenigbo, but he is one of the most intelligent and observant characters in the novel. How well does Ugwu manage the transition from village life to the intellectual and privileged world of his employers? How does his presence throughout affect the reader’s experience of the story?

 

2. About her attraction to Odenigbo, Olanna thinks, “The intensity had not abated after two years, nor had her awe at his self-assured eccentricities and his fierce moralities” [p. 36]. What is attractive about Odenigbo? How does Adichie poke fun at certain aspects of his character? How does the war change him?  

 

3. Adichie touches very lightly on a connection between the Holocaust and the Biafran situation [p. 62]; why does she not stress this parallel more strongly? Why are the Igbo massacred by the Hausa? What tribal resentments and rivalries are expressed in the Nigerian-Biafran war? In what ways does the novel make clear that these rivalries have been intensified by British interference?

 

4. Consider the conversation between Olanna and Kainene on pp. 130-131. What are the sources of the distance and distrust between the two sisters, and how is the rift finally overcome? What is the effect of the disappearance of Kainene on the ending of the story?

 

5. Discuss the ways in which Adichie reveals the differences in social class among her characters. What are the different cultural assumptions—about themselves and others—made by educated Africans like Odenigbo, nouveau riche Africans like Olanna’s parents, uneducated Africans like Odenigbo’s mother, and British expatriates like Richard’s ex-girlfriend Susan?

 

6. Excerpts from a book called The World Was Silent When We Died appear on pp. 103, 146, 195, 256, 296, 324, 470, and 541. Who is writing this book? What does it tell us? Why is it inserted into the story in parts? 

 

7. Adichie breaks the chronological sequence of her story so that she can delay the revelation that Baby is not Olanna’s child and that Olanna had a brief liaison with Richard. What are the effects of this delay, and of these revelations, on your reading experience?

 

8. Susan Grenville-Pitts is a stereotype of the colonial occupier with her assertion that “It’s quite extraordinaryÉ how these people can’t control their hatred of each other.... Civilization teaches you control” [p. 194]. Richard, on the other hand, wants to be African, learns to speak Igbo, and says “we” when he speaks of Biafra. What sort of person is Richard? How do you explain his desires?

 

9. Adichie makes a point of displaying Olanna’s middle-class frame of mind: she is disgusted at the cockroach eggs in her cousins’ house reluctant to let Baby mix with village children because they have lice, and so on. How is her privileged outlook changed by the war?

 

10. The poet Okeoma, in praise of the new Biafra, wrote, “If the sun refuses to rise, we will make it rise” [p. 219]. Does Adichie seem to represent the Biafran secession as a doomed exercise in political naivete —  or as a desperate bid for survival on the part of a besieged ethnic group? Given the history of Nigeria and Britain’s support during the war, is the defeat of Biafra a foregone conclusion?

 

11. The sisters’ relationship is damaged further when Olanna seduces Richard [p. 293]. Why does Olanna do this? If she is taking revenge upon Odenigbo for his infidelity, why does she choose Richard? What does Kainene mean when she bitterly calls Olanna “the good one” [p. 318]?

 

12. How does being witnesses to violent death change people in the story—Olanna, Kainene, Odenigbo, Ugwu? How does Adichie handle descriptions of scenes of violence, death, and famine?

 

13. What goes through Ugwu’s mind as he participates in the rape of the bar girl [p. 457]? How does he feel about it later, when he learns that his sister was also gang-raped [pp. 497, 526]?

 

14. The novel is structured in part around two love stories, between Olanna and Odenigbo and between Kainene and Richard.  It is “really a story of love,” Adichie has said (Financial Times, September 9, 2006). How does Adichie handle romantic and sexual love? Why are these love plots so important to a novel about a war?

 

15. The story begins as Ugwu’s aunty describes to Ugwu his new employer: “Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair” [p. 3]. It ends with Ugwu’s dedication of his book: “For Master, my good man” [p. 541]. Consider how Ugwu’s relation to his master has changed throughout the course of the story.

 

16. How is it fitting that Ugwu, and not Richard, should be the one who writes the story of the war and his people?

 

17. In a recent interview Adichie said, “My family tells me that I must be old. This is a book I had to write because it’s my way of looking at this history that defines me and making sense of it.” (She recently turned twenty-nine, and based parts of the story on her family’s experiences during that time and also on a great deal of reading.) “I didn’t want to just write about events,” Adichie said. “I wanted to put a human face on them” (New York Times, September 23, 2006). Why is it remarkable that a woman so young could write a novel of this scope and depth?

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

This month's book is Arthur & George by Julian Barnes, and, as the book was handed out at the end of last month's meeting, we all seemed to know something about it: it was on the Booker Prize shortlist; one of the characters was famous, the other not; it was a historical novel.  It was a little while, I have to confess, before I quite realised which character was the notorious one - although in  a sense, both were in their day.  I had no idea about the 'Great Wyrley Outrages', but found the dual parallel narratives compelling, and the moment at which the two stories collide (the first chapter entitled Arther & George) intriguing.  The central protagonists were rounded, appealingly flawed, and engaging and I enjoyed the conceit of bringing 'real' characters to life in this way.  Like The Sense of an Ending however, this novel didn't seem to have one, or not a satisfactory one, at any rate. Perhaps that is the inevitability of being in the hands of such a masterful storyteller: the conclusion will necessarily prove disappointing. 

Our meeting takes place in Worthing, and here are this month's questions for discussion:

1.    One of the first things we learn about George is that "For a start, he lacks imagination". George is deeply attached to the facts, while early in life Arthur discovers the "essential connection between narrative and reward" . How does this temperamental difference determine their approaches to life? Does Barnes use Arthur and George to explore the very different attractions of truth telling and storytelling?

2.    To what degree do George's parents try to overlook or deny the social difficulties their mixed marriage has produced for themselves and their children? Are they admirable in their determination to ignore the racial prejudice to which they are subjected?

3.    Critic Peter Kemp has commented on Julian Barnes's interest in fiction that "openly colonises actuality—especially the lives of creative prodigies" (London Times, 26 June 2005). In Arthur & George, the details we read about Arthur's life are largely true. While the story of George Edalji is an obscure chapter of Doyle's life, its details as presented here are also based on the historical record. What is the effect, for the reader, when an author blurs the line between fiction and biography, or fiction and history?

4.    From early on in a life shaped by stories, Arthur has identified with tales of knights: "If life was a chivalric quest, then he had rescued the fair Touie, he had conquered the city, and been rewarded with gold. . . . What did a knight errant do when he came home to a wife and two children in South Norwood?" (60). Is it common to find characters like Arthur in our own day? How have the ideas of masculinity changed between Edwardian times and the present?

5.    George has trouble believing that he was a victim of race prejudice (235). Why is this difficult for him to believe? Is it difficult for him to imagine that others don't see him as he sees himself? Does George's misfortune seem to be juxtaposed ironically with his family's firm belief in the Christian faith?

6.    Inspector Campbell tells Captain Anson that the man who did the mutilations would be someone who was "accustomed to handling animals" (84); this assumption would clearly rule out George. Yet George is pursued as the single suspect. Campbell also notes that Sergeant Upton is neither intelligent nor competent at his job (86). What motivates Campbell as he examines George's clothing and his knife, and proceeds to have George arrested (102–7)?

7.    George's arrest for committing "the Great Wyrley Outrages" (153) causes a sensation in England just a few years following the sensational killing spree of Jack the Ripper that sold millions of newspapers throughout England. Are the newspapers, and the public appetite for sensational stories, partly responsible for the crime against George Edalji?

8.    For nine years, Arthur carries on a chaste love affair with Jean Leckie. Yet he feels miserable after the death of his wife Touie, particularly when he learns from his daughter Mary that Touie assumed that Arthur would remarry (215–17). Why is Arthur thrown into "the great Grimpen Mire" by his freedom to marry Jean (220)? Why does he believe that "if Touie knew, then he was destroyed" (267)? Has he, as he fears, behaved dishonourably to both women? What does the dilemma do to his sense of personal honour?

9.    Why is the real perpetrator of the animal killings never identified? In a Sherlock Holmes story the criminal is always caught and convicted, but Doyle gets no such satisfaction with this real world case. How disturbing is the fact that Edalji is never truly vindicated and never compensated for the injustice he suffered? Does Barnes's fictional enlargement of George Edalji's life act as a kind of compensation?

10. Arthur & George presents a world that seems less evolved than our own in its assumptions about race and human nature, and justice and evidence, as well as in its examples of human innocence and idealism. Does this world seem so remote in time as to be, in a sense, unbelievable? Or might American readers recognise a similar situation in a story like Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, or more recent news stories about racial injustice?