Monday, August 4, 2008

Let's Discuss The Madonnas of Leningrad

It's time to talk books with the Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group!

When? Thursday, August 7th at 7 p.m.
Where? Fairfax Library meeting room
What Book? The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

Discussion questions for the book are below.

A September Special: In our upcoming September 4th meeting, we'll discuss Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. The author, Stephanie Kallos, has e-mailed me to ask if there is anything she can do to help our discussion of her book. Please let me know if you have any questions you'd like to ask her after you read the book.

With a riotous energy that recalls the works of John Irving and Anne Tyler, Broken for You is a debut novel of infinite charm and tremendous heart that explores the risks and rewards of human connection, and the hidden strength behind things that only seem fragile. When we meet septuagenarian Margaret Hughes, she is living alone in a mansion in Seattle with only a massive collection of valuable antiques for company. Enter Wanda Schultz, a young woman with a broken heart who has come west to search for her wayward boyfriend. Both women are guarding dark secrets and have spent many years building up protective armor against the outside world. But as the two begin their tentative dance of friendship, the armor begins to fall away and Margaret opens her house to Wanda. Funny, heartbreaking, and alive with a potpourri of eccentric and irresistible characters, Broken for You is a testament to the saving graces of surrogate families, and shows how far the tiniest repair jobs can go in righting the world's wrongs. Book Jacket

Get even more info with BookMovement.com: Sign up with BookMovement.com and get book reviews, reminders and more. This is a nice website that offers additional information and reviews of books. We've set up a home page for othe Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group that tracks the books we've read, books we're currently reading and offers suggestions for future reads. The site will also send you an e-mail reminder of upcoming meetings. Here is a link to our book club home page: http://www.bookmovement.com/app/club/view.php?clubID=2059

Discussion Questions
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

1. The working of memory is a key theme of this novel. As a young woman, remembering the missing paintings is a deliberate act of survival and homage for Marina. In old age, however, she can no longer control what she remembers or forgets. "More distressing than the loss of words is the way that time contracts and fractures and drops her in unexpected places." How has Dean used the vagaries of Marina's memory to structure the novel? How does the narrative itself mimic the ways in which memory functions?

2. Sometimes, Marina finds consolations within the loss of her short-term memory. "One of the effects of this deterioration seems to be that as the scope of her attention narrows, it also focuses like a magnifying glass on smaller pleasures that have escaped her notice for years." Is aging merely an accumulation of deficits or are there gifts as well?

3. The narrative is interspersed with single-page chapters describing a room or a painting in the Hermitage Museum. Who is describing these paintings and what is the significance of the paintings chosen? How is each interlude connected to the chapter that follows?

4. The historical period of The Madonnas of Leningrad begins with the outbreak of war. How is war portrayed in this novel? How is this view of World War II different from or similar to other accounts you have come across?

5. Even though she says of herself that she is not a "believer," in what ways is Marina spiritual? Discuss Marina's faith: how does her spirituality compare with conventional religious belief? How do religion and miracles figure in this novel? What are the miracles that occur in The Madonnas of Leningrad?

6. A central mystery revolves around Andre's conception. Marina describes a remarkable incident on the roof of the Hermitage when one of the statues from the roof of the Winter Palace, "a naked god," came to life, though she later discounts this as a hallucination. In her dotage, she tells her daughter-in-law that Andre's father is Zeus. Dmitri offers other explanations: she may have been raped by a soldier or it's possible that their only coupling before he went off to the front resulted in a son. What do you think actually happened? Is it a flaw or a strength of the novel that the author doesn't resolve this question?

7. At the end of Marina's life, Helen admits that "once she had thought that she might discover some key to her mother if only she could get her likeness right, but she has since learned that the mysteries of another person only deepen, the longer one looks." How well do we ever know our parents? Are there things you've learned about your parents' past that helped you feel you knew them better?

8. In much the same way that Marina is struggling with getting old, her daughter, Helen, is struggling with disappointments and regrets often associated with middle-age: her marriage has failed, her son is moving away, she may never get any recognition as an artist, and last but not least, she is losing a life-long battle with her weight. Are her feelings of failure the result of poor choices and a bad attitude or are such feelings an inevitable part of the human condition?

9. In a sense, the novel has two separate but parallel endings: the young Marina giving the cadets a tour of the museum, and the elderly Marina giving the carpenter a tour of an unfinished house. What is the function of this coda? How would the novel be different if it ended with the cadets' tour?

10. What adjectives would you use to describe The Madonnas of Leningrad? Given the often bleak subject matter - war, starvation, dementia -- is the novel's view of the world depressing?

11. Dmitri is unfailingly patient with Marina's memory loss and increasingly bizarre and unpredictable behavior. Would you have the patience to help a loved one in this way? Do you agree with their son, Andrei, who wanted to put Marina in an assisted living facility?

12. The fate of several characters is left unknown, such as Marina's niece and nephew and several plot lines are left unresolved, such as her uncle's book, his life's work. It was also sometimes difficult to distinguish between actual events and hallucinations. Did those unknowns detract from the book as you finished it?

13. The Madonnas of Leningrad tells two parallel stories, about the victims of the Siege of Leningrad and the effects of Alzheimer's on the Buriakov family. Are there any heroes in these stories? Any villains?

14. Do you have a "memory palace"?

15. Are there any similarities between Marina's memories of the siege of Leningrad and the reminiscences of Jacob in last month's book, Water for Elephants?