Our Souls At Night December 2016

December 2016 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, December 8th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our December book Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf.

  

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Interview with Kent Haruf’s widow

Brief author bio

Denver Post article/obituary regarding Haruf’s effect on Colorado

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Jan. 12^th      The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Thurs. Feb. 9^th        The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Thurs. Mar. 9^th          The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra         

  

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf

1. What does the title mean?

2. The novel begins with the word "and": "And then there was the day when Addie Moore made a call on Louis Waters." What do you imagine came before it?

3. Kent Haruf was known for using simple, spare language to create stories of great depth. How does the modest action in Our Souls at Night open onto larger insights about getting older?

4. It takes a considerable amount of courage for a woman of Addie’s generation to invite a man she hardly knows to sleep in her bed. What do you think propelled her to do it?

5. When Louis comes over for the first time, he knocks on her back door in the name of discretion. Addie says, "I made up my mind I’m not going to pay attention to what people think. I’ve done that too long—all my life. I’m not going to live that way anymore. The alley makes it seem we’re doing something wrong or something disgraceful, to be ashamed of" (8). How does her attitude influence Louis’s?

6. Both Louis and Addie have to contend with gossip about their relationship. Who handles it better?

7. What does Addie’s friendship with Ruth show us about Addie’s character?

8. Addie and Louis both had troubled marriages, but stayed married until their partners died. How does that sense of propriety, of loyalty, influence their relationship with each other?

9. In describing his affair, Louis says, "I think I regret hurting Tamara more than I do hurting my wife. I failed my spirit or something" (42). What does he mean by this?

10. Why did Addie refuse to move after Connie’s death? How did this decision color Gene’s reaction to his mother’s late-in-life love affair?

11. On page 52, Louis describes his relationship with Addie to his daughter, "It’s some kind of decision to be free. Even at our ages." Why does he feel freer with Addie than he does alone? How does his behavior become more uninhibited as the novel progresses?

12. How does Jamie’s arrival deepen the connection between Addie and Louis?

13. When Louis confesses that he wanted to be a poet, what effect does it have on Addie’s opinion of him? And on your opinion?

14. Addie and Louis both have regrets about the way they raised their children. How does that influence their relationship with Jamie?

15. Why did Addie buy new clothes for her trips to Denver that she never wears in Holt? What signal does it send to the reader?

16. On page 145, Addie mentions the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of Benediction, based on the author’s own novel. Addie and Louis discuss the fact that it’s set in Holt, the fictional town in which they live. Why do you think Haruf slipped this into the story?

17. At the end of that conversation, Addie says, "Who would have thought at this time in our lives that we’d still have something like this. That it turns out we’re not finished with changes and excitements. And not all dried up in body and spirit" (147). What point is Haruf making?

18. Jamie’s arrival ultimately leads to grave consequences. What is Gene afraid of?

19. Several times during the novel, Addie is described as being brave, but she gives in to Gene’s demands. Is this a brave act? What is she protecting?

20. How would you describe the ending—as heartbreaking, hopeful, or something else?

21. In his final interview, Haruf discussed Our Souls at Night: "The idea for the book has been floating around in my mind for quite a while. Now that I know I have, you know—a limited time—it was important to me to try to make good use of that time. So I went out there every day. Typically, I have always had a story pretty well plotted out before I start writing. This time I knew generally where the story was going, but I didn’t know very many of the details. So as it happened, I went out every day trusting myself to be able to add to the story each day. I don’t want to get too fancy about it, but it was like something else was working to help me get this done. Call it a muse or spiritual guidance, I don’t know. All I know is that the trust I had in being able to write every day was helpful." How does reading this affect your understanding of the book?

Season of the Witch November 2016

November 2016 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, November 10th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our November book, Season of the Witch by David Talbot.

  

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

David Talbot interview

Mark your calendar to visit the SF Mint in 2017 for SF History Days

Hunter’s Point Riot info

Lots of photos and essays about SF history in the ‘60s and ‘70’s

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Dec. 10^th        Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf

Thurs. Jan. 12^th      The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Thurs. Feb. 9^th        The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Thurs. Mar. 9^th          The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra         

  

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Season of the Witch by David Talbot

1. Season of the Witch covers some dark moments in San Francisco history. What factors do you think led to this confluence of largely unprecedented events within a relatively short period of time? Could it happen again?

2. Was it the leadership of then Mayor Dianne Feinstein, the 49ers winning the Super Bowl, or varied factors that led to a more calm and focused city?

3. San Francisco, unlike New York City, never again elected a Republican public official following the times of Season of the Witch. Why did this happen, and is this likely to always be the case?

4. Season of the Witch opens and closes with stories about the Hallinans, reflecting both the old Irish American power structure within the city, as well as the often fiery nature of SF politics. How has that changed over time?

5. In this year’s election, San Francisco voters were faced with some deeply contentious and acrimonious issues, with many of the hot button topics related to growth and construction, economic disparity, short term rentals and more. Were these issues predictable based on past history? 6. While Season of the Witch is obviously non-fiction, if such tales were offered as a fiction novel, do you think it would have been believed?

6.  Were you shocked or surprised by any of the stories related in the book?

7. Season of the Witch covers some rollicking times and harrowing times in San Francisco history. Which do you think is more descriptive of San Francisco today?

8. Events described in the book create some very effective and compassionate health care centers in San Francisco – from the Haight Street Clinic to San Francisco General’s Ward 5B. Were those “only in San Francisco” results?

Inherent Vice October 2016

October 2016 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, October 13th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our October book Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon.

Discussion questions prepared by NoveList are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Thomas Pynchon fiercely protects his privacy but here is a brief bio and some random facts compiled by students at Pomona University

Wiki page for Inherent Vice with page by page notes, articles and more

Rolling Stone article: “Pynchon for Beginners”

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Nov. 10^th        Season of the Witch by David Talbot

Thurs. Dec. 8^th          Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

  

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

NoveList Discussion Questions

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

What is Doc's relationship with drugs and how does it shape his character?
In the noir tradition of "private eyes," Doc fuels his work with substance abuse; his intoxicant of choice is marijuana, rather than liquor, which he consumes with the casual assurance of an everyday user. His perceptions and theories are often framed by the amount he's had, either assuring us that "he hadn't been smoking much" when he sees a mysterious, lovely orange light play across Shasta's face (p. 5); or, indirectly conceding he's become too stoned to function: "[T]he phone rang again, and he had one of those brief lapses where you forget how to pick up the receiver" (p. 35). His aptitude seems sharpest when he hasn't been overindulging, but this fact rarely seems to factor in his consumption.
For Doc, smoking pot is an emblematic lifestyle choice, not just a chemical crutch. It separates him from "gentlemen of the straight world persuasion" (p.4), like his counterpart in the police force, Detective Christian "Bigfoot" Bjornsen. Doc's neighborhood reflects his chosen identity, too: on Gordita Beach, "weeknights . . . weren't too different from weekends" (p.4).
Pot smoking suspends Doc in a state of permanent immaturity. It is strongly hinted that this is why Shasta split, and she surveys with distaste "everything that hadn't changed" in his habits, represented by his décor: " [an] authentic English Pub Dartboard up on the wagon wheel and the whorehouse swag lamp with the purple psychedelic bulb. . . the collection of model hot rods made entirely of Coors cans…the velvet painting and so forth" (p. 4). His immaturity even bleeds into stupidity, for example when he defensively compares himself to Sherlock Holmes (who used cocaine in the original stories), without realizing he's a fictional character: "No, he's real. He lives at this real address in London. Well, maybe not anymore, it was years ago, he has to be dead by now" (p.96).
Doc's drug use makes him an occasionally likeable but often unreliable narrator, who forms paranoid connections between the novel's numerous loosely tangled plots. Many prove to be dead ends, or red herrings, as with the initial case Shasta dispatches him on. There is a tissue that stitches them all together, but as with most noir novels the actual plot matters less than the atmosphere it evokes. Doc's drug amplifies amplify the sense of wacky paranoia that pervades the novel. When stoned, he goes down strange rabbit holes of cause and effect -- not unlike those that a reader may concoct while trying to unravel a complex noir plot.

What does Coy Harlington's character reveal about Doc?
Doc considers himself a rogue outside the "the straight world," living apart and even above the corrupt morass of betrayal and greed that he sees in the corporate and law enforcement communities. Even when the plots begin to get seriously scary, and bodies start piling up, Doc is unwilling to involve the police. "I wish….just once I could trust them," he sighs. "But it's like the force of gravity, they never pull in any but the one direction" (p. 194).
Coy Harlington is also part of the subculture, an inveterate drug user and a surf rocker, who becomes an overt tool of the forces Doc despises. Coy "works mostly for the Red Squad and the…Public Disorder Intelligence Division," (p.122) infiltrating subversive, would-be revolutionary groups and delivering their members into the hands of a shadowy right-wing vigilante organization with ties to powerful people and elements within the LAPD. The job gave his aimless life direction, and financial security, motivations not dissimilar from Doc's reasons for becoming a private eye. But Coy soured on the mission (which required him to fake his own death and separate from his family), in large part because many of the people he seems to be setting up "were looking at deep possibilities including real death" (p.302).
Coy's position can be seen as a more dramatic version of Doc's own: "Far as I see, you and Coy, you're peas in a pod," says Shasta. "Both of you, cops who never wanted to be cops. Rather be surfing or smoking or fucking or anything but what you're doing. You guys must've thought you'd be chasing criminals, and instead you're both working for them" (p. 312-314). This is an exaggerated claim on her part -- it is not clear that Doc is really working for anyone at this point in the novel -- but it is clear that she has struck a nerve. He fears becoming like Coy, a tool for oppressive forces that are beyond his ken and will gleefully manipulate his rebellious nature for their own ends.
Because Doc sees himself in Coy, the latter's redemption and freedom become a primary motivation in the final chapters of the novel. After it is revealed that Shasta is fine, and the Golden Fang conspiracy far too large for Doc to successfully tangle with, it is Coy's fate that the private eye devotes himself to. When Doc has defeated the small time bad guys and has the leverage to negotiate with their bosses, he does not ask anything for himself or Shasta. Instead he asks that Coy be released from his bondage to the right wing vigilantes (who in turn are being run by the Golden Fang, who are really a cabal of exceedingly wealthy businessmen).

What is the novel's central conflict?
Because several of Doc's cases aren't remotely about what he thinks they are, the novel raises interesting choices about what its central conflict -- or point -- may be. At first, tension between hippies and law enforcement -- epitomized by Doc's wary rivalry with the cop, "Bigfoot" Bjornsen -- seems very important. Early in the novel, Doc slurs Bjornsen as "the old hippie-hating mad dog himself…after a busy day of civil-rights violations" (p.9).
But these personal tensions are lessened as the story unfolds and the violent, large-scale nature of the Golden Fang operation is revealed. Behind almost every character looms the immensity of the Golden Fang: an elite conspiracy of epic proportions, driven by a one-sided class war that the 1960's hopeful dream of change (epitomized by 1960s hippies like Doc) has not dislodged. Crocker Fenway explains to Doc that the Golden Fang is, was, and will be, LA's ultimate power: "It's about being in place, we're in place. We've been in place forever. Look around, real estate, water rights, oil, cheap labor -- all of that's ours. It's always been ours….We will never run out of you people. The supply is inexhaustible" (p.346). By "you people," Crocker doesn't just mean hippies like Doc -- but everyone who isn't part of the wealthy, powerful elite. Coy expresses a similar realization after figuring out that his right-wing vigilante masters are also just tools of those with still more power, who "feel entitled to fuck with the lives of all who weren't as good or bright as they were, which meant everybody" (p.301).  
The terrifying reality of entrenched elitism -- and the violence it lives on -- is Doc's real nemesis, and he cannot grapple with it. Doc is set up to kill the Golden Fang henchmen, Puck and Adrian, to avenge the murder of Bjornsen's partner by the Golden Fang years earlier; otherwise, Doc would never have dreamed of taking on such a huge organization. Once Bjornsen gives him the Golden Fang heroin as a "reward," Doc is all the more cognizant of how dangerous the game has become -- and he wants out. Although Doc realizes he has only made a dent in their organization, he exchange the heroin to secure Coy's release from his obligations to the Golden Fang. As a counterpoint, against the novel's message about the massive nature of corrupt elitism, Coy affirms that the others -- those outside the elite -- also have staying power: "We've been laid siege to by far worse, and we're still here" (p.347).

What does Mickey Wolfmann's story arc tell us about the larger message of Inherent Vice?
The disappearance of Mickey Wolfmann is presented to us in the opening of Inherent Vice as the central mystery for Doc to investigate. He is meant to be a thoroughly disreputable capitalist, "biggest of the big, construction, savings and loans, untaxed billions stashed under an Alp someplace, technically Jewish but wants to be a Nazi" (p.7). He is a rapacious real estate developer, accompanied by a bodyguard of ex-cons who are members of the Aryan Brotherhood.
But Wolfmann -- the "bad boy capitalist" -- is reformed by his encounters with Shasta, and his induction into counterculture, which convinced him of the evil of his own ways. One of his bodyguards tells Doc that he had begun to consider a big change: "All the money he ever made -- he was working on a way to just give it back…Wouldn't be the first rich guy on a guilt trip lately" (p.150). Wolfmann becomes caught up in the 1960s utopian dream: "I feel as if I've awakened from a dream of a crime for which I can never atone, an act I can never go back and choose not to commit. I can't believe I spent my whole life making people pay for shelter, when it ought to've been free" (p.244).
But even his vast wealth isn't enough to withstand the powerful societal forces that want to maintain the status quo, in this case the Golden Fang and the FBI. As one federal agent derisively explains it to Doc, "Suddenly [Wolfmann] decides to change his life and give away millions to an assortment of degenerates -- Negroes, longhairs, drifters" (p. 244) -- and those in power (the Gold Fang as well as the FBI) simply can’t let such a valuable asset go. The only time Doc sees Wolfmann, he is being escorted by a small army of FBI agents through a Las Vegas hotel. Wolfmann has reverted to his bad old ways, and his utopian affordable housing project has been abandoned; there is "no more acid-head philanthropist," because "They did something to him" (emphasis added, p. 252).
Wolfmann's arc is symbolic of Inherent Vice's central premise. The 1960s ideal of peaceful revolution is inevitably undercut by the frailties and corruptions endemic to any human endeavor. Wolfmann becomes aware of the crimes for which he can never atone, the flaws at the core of his being, but still cannot overcome them. Inherent Viceseems to imply that such obstacles are insurmountable. Hence the name of the novel itself: "Built into the act of return finally was this glittering mosaic of doubt. Something like what Sauncho's colleagues in marine insurance liked to call inherent vice," which Doc is told means "what you can't avoid" (p.351).

What forces does Inherent Vice blame for the deterioration of 1960s idealism?
Inherent Vice is set in 1970, in the wake of the Manson murders and deteriorating 1960s counterculture. Paranoia abounds and the idealism and free-wheeling fun that Doc and his cohort hoped would last forever seems to have evaporated. Contemplating Mickey Wolfmann's abandonment of utopian idealism, Doc feels "caught in a low-level bummer" because "the Psychedelic Sixties, this little parenthesis of light, might close after all, and all be lost, taken back into darkness" (page 254). Shaken, he considers the possibility that behind every "concert, peace rally, love-in, be-in, and freak-in. . . those dark crews had been busy all along, reclaiming the music, the resistance to power," and every other thing they could, "for the ancient forces of greed and fear" (p.129-130).
But these authoritarian forces are not the sole source of the doom of the 1960s revolution. The novel also implies that the roots of its decay lay within a type of inward-looking, drug-hazed, self-obsessed brand of 1960s radicalism that is, ultimately, unproductive. Doc's own lifestyle might be considered representative of the issue: when everyone just chases the next high or good time, there is focused effort toward setting and achieving higher goals. The urge to "do your own thing" becomes isolating, rather than building community.
This inherent vice of the 1960s generation is typified by the long row of hippies Doc observes engrossed at an upscale retail music shop, each wearing headphones and seeming alone in a crowd. Unlike the "outdoor concerts where thousands of people congregated to listen to music for free, and where it all got sort of blended together into a single public self, because everybody was having the same experience," Doc sees that here they each listen separately, in "confinement and mutual silence." He is further confused to think that "some of them later at the register would actually be spending money to hear rock 'n' roll" (p.176). Doc thinks they have become complicit in the commoditization of the counterculture, sacrificing the greater cause for their individual experience.
The Golden Fang aren't winning merely because they have the power, but because they are able to use their would-be opponents' weaknesses to subvert the cause. They are better able to take advantage of humanity's inherent vice, original sin, than are those who share Doc's vague ideas of free love, drugs, and freedom. 

Circling the Sun September 2016

September 2016 Book Selection

We’re back! The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, September 8th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our September book Circling the Sun by Paula McLain.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Movietone video of Beryl Markham at the start of her East-West Atlantic crossing

NPR audio interview with Paula McLain

Author website (check out her essays link)

History of horse racing in Kenya

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Oct. 13^th         Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Thurs. Nov. 10^th        Season of the Witch by David Talbot

Thurs. Dec. 8^th          Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

1.      At the beginning of the book, Beryl reflects that her father’s farm in Njoro was “the one place in the world I’d been made for.” Do you feel this is a fitting way to describe Beryl’s relationship with Kenya, too? Did she seem more suited–more made for–life there than the others in her circle? Is there a place in your life that you would describe the same way?

2.      While it is clear he loved his daughter, do you feel Beryl’s father was a good parent? Do you think Beryl would have said he was? Did you sympathize with him at any point?

3.      Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality (for better or for worse)?

4.      After Jock’s drunken attack, D fires Beryl and sends her away. Do you understand his decision? Despite all the philandering and indulgent behaviors of the community, do you feel it’s fair that Beryl was being judged so harshly for the incident?

5.      How would you describe Beryl and Denys’s relationship? In what ways are they similar souls? How does their first encounter–outside, under the stars at her coming out party–encapsulate the nature of their connection? 

6.      Karen and Beryl are two strong, iconoclastic women drawn to the same unobtainable man. Do you understand how Beryl could pursue Denys even though he was involved with Karen? Did you view the friendship between the women as a true one, despite its complications?

7.      Why do you believe the author chose the title Circling the Sun? Does it bring to mind a particular moment from the novel or an aspect of Beryl’s character?

8.      When Beryl is quite young, she reflects that “softness and helplessness got you nothing in this place.” Do you agree with her? Or do you think Beryl placed too much value on strength and independence?

9.      When Beryl becomes a mother herself, she is determined not to act as her own mother did. Do you feel she succeeds? How does motherhood spur her decision to exchange horse training for flying? Could you identify with this choice?

10.  After Paddy the lion attacks Beryl, Bishon Singh says, “Perhaps you were never meant for him.” Do you think that Beryl truly discovered what she was meant for by the end of the novel?

11.  Beryl Markham’s memoirs, West with the Night, were published in 1942, furthering her notoriety as a sexually liberated woman conquering more than one field considered the territory of men. How have attitudes changed since the days of Markham’s bold choices?

12.  While Circling the Sun is a piece of historical fiction, Beryl Markham was a living, breathing historical figure. What responsibilities do authors of these types of imagined retellings of a person’s life have to the reader? More importantly, what responsibilities do authors of historical fiction have to their subjects?

13.  Throughout the book, Beryl’s romantic choices – the limitations of marriage notwithstanding – conclude at best in disappointment, at worst in tragedy. Compared with other popular strong-willed heroines, how do her opinions on love and fulfillment differ? Are we just as free as Beryl to make similar choices, or are relationships still driven in part by societal pressures?

14.  One of the most important friendships in Circling the Sun exists between Beryl and Kibii, a young Kipsigis village boy living near her father’s farm. How do their worlds interact? Can they co-exist?

Mary Coin June 2016

June 2016 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, June 9th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our June book Mary Coin by Marisa Silver.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Sod houses in Nebraska

2008 Modesto Bee article  and PBS article about the woman behind the photo

Library of Congress video (11.5 min) about the FSA photo collection and another video (14.5 min.) with the history and tips for researching the collection.

Link to photo on Library of Congress website and the other photos taken

Dorothea Lange info

We will NOT meet in July or August and will resume our monthly discussions Thursday, September 8^th.

After a fun summer for everyone, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:

Thurs. Sept. 8^th         Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Thurs. Oct. 13^th         Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Thurs. Nov. 10^th        Season of the Witch by David Talbot

Thurs. Dec. 8^th          Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

1. Were you familiar with Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photograph before reading Mary Coin? If so, what assumptions did you bring to your reading experiences about the photograph? The photographer?

2. When readers are first introduced to Mary, she is in the midst of her adolescence. How would you characterize her as a teenager? Do these personality traits stick with her throughout the novel? How does her grandfather’s legacy as the “Cherokee Murderer” impact her?

3. After being photographed in the Indian princess garb, Mary remarks that “she felt the queer nature of her power, how it made her feel strong and diminished all at once.” (46) How is this sentiment echoed throughout the novel? Relate this statement to Vera’s perspective of power behind the camera.

4. On page 6, Walker asserts that he tells his children “all his foundational stories, no matter how humiliating.”  When considering his relationship with his own father, why does Walker approach parenting in this way? Is it  effective? Explore other ways that his childhood has influenced his personal and work-related decisions in adulthood.

5. Mary and Vera both contend with economic hardships throughout the course of the novel, eventually becoming the breadwinners for their families. How do these experiences affect their self-image? Their relationships with their children? Their spouses?

6. The words “For sure, you’ll be lame so” echo in Vera’s mind throughout the novel, yet on page 119 she also notes that her limp is one of her greatest advantages. How does photography help her overcome her self-consciousness?

7. Vera initially views photography solely as an occupation, while Everett is an “artist.” How does her conception of her career change over the course of the novel? Does she ever see herself as an artist? Discuss her ambitions in relation to the expected gender roles of the time.

8. Compare the marital history of Mary and Vera. Are their marriages borne out of love? Necessity? What do they learn from their failed marriages? How do they assert independence in their relationships?

9. On page 224, Walker states that “his image of his grandfather must be a construct derived from largely from photographs” rather than his own recollections. What does this imply about the influence of objects and photographs on memory? Do photographs manipulate—or even create—memories? Relate to modern-day culture. Does our constant documentation via cell phone photography and social media manipulate memory?

10. Walker, Mary, and Vera all express guilt over how they have raised their children. Discuss their concerns and characterize their parenting styles. How do they interact with their children? What do they celebrate about parenthood? What do they regret?

11. When Mary travels to the Goodwill in Chapter 31, she realizes “how silly the idea of owning was in the end.” (272) Given this, why do you think she buys back all of her items? Explore this in connection with the culture of poverty that Mary was raised in.

12. On page 184, Vera admits that she is “embarrassed” by her most famous photograph. Why does she have that reaction? Is she ever comfortable with her fame?

13. The scene where the famous photograph is taken is described twice in the novel, once from Mary’s point of view, once from Vera’s. Discuss the differences in the way the two women experience this encounter. What are the ethical ramifications for both women?

14. When Mary visits the gallery in Chapter 36, she is looking at the photograph when she overhears someone say “You can see it all in her face.” Discuss the irony of this arrangement. What does this assert about the relationship between the viewer and the subject in art? About perception and truth?

15. Discuss the last line of the novel: “There is no erasure.” Why do you think the author chose to end Mary Coin on this note?

Euphoria May 2016

May 2016 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, May 12th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our May book Euphoria by Lily King.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Author website

Brief bio of Margaret Mead and longish obit of Gregory Bateson

Four minute audio interview with Margaret Mead about anthropology

Coming up, we have the following book to look forward to reading:

Thurs. June 9^th         Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Euphoria by Lily King

1. Set against the lush tropical landscape of 1930s New Guinea, this novel charts British anthropologist Andrew Bankson’s fascination for colleagues Nell Stone and her husband, Fen, a fascination that turns deadly. How far does the setting play a role in shaping events? Is there a sense that the three have created their own small universe on the banks of the Sepik River, far removed from the Western world? If so, by whose rules are they playing?

2. “She tried not to think about the villages they were passing…the tribes she would never know and words she would never hear, the worry that they might right now be passing the one people she was meant to study, a people whose genius she would unlock, and who would unlock hers, a people who had a way of life that made sense to her” (p. 8). In the light of this quote, discuss Nell Stone’s passion and need for anthropology and find ways in which they differ from Bankson’s and Fen’s. Talk about the significance of her childhood dream of being carried away by gypsies.

3. Continue your discussion by considering Nell’s statement: “If I didn’t believe they shared my humanity entirely, I wouldn’t be here…I’m not interested in zoology” (p. 55). Find instances in the novel in which she demonstrates this. How far do you agree, as Nell states, that it is an anthropologist’s role to encourage self-analysis and self-awareness in the tribes he/she studies?

4. Over the course of the novel we learn a great deal about Bankson’s childhood and young adulthood. Talk about the reasons and life events that brought him to anthropology. What has led him to the brink of suicide? How seriously do you think he views his statement: “The meaning of life is the quest to understand the structure and order of the natural world --- that was the mantra I was raised on. To deviate from it was suicide” (p. 32).

5. Given his upbringing and his father’s passion for “hard” science, Nell’s focus on humanity instead of zoology must hold great appeal for Bankson. What else draws him to Nell, leaving him with “Fierce desires, a great tide of feeling of which I could make little sense, an ache that seems to have no name but want. I want” (p. 86). What exactly does Bankson want?

6. Discuss the ways in which Bankson’s attitude toward his work changes as he gets to know Nell and her research methods. Consider his acknowledgment of the limitations of an anthropologist’s work and discuss how far it is possible to ever get to know another’s culture. Take into account Bankson’s interest in the objectivity of the observer.

7. Take your discussion of the previous question a step further by considering whether it is ever possible to truly know another person. Apply your observations to Bankson’s views of Nell and Fen.

8. The theme of possession, of ownership, runs throughout the novel, twisting like the river Sepik itself through the relationships and conversations of the protagonists. Talk about Nell’s search for “a group of people who give each other the room to be in whatever way they need to be” (p. 88). Has she found this kind of freedom in any of the tribes she has studied? In any of her relationships? Talk specifically about Fen and Bankson.

9. Further your discussion by focusing on the idea of words and thoughts as things to be owned --- as Nell states, “once I published that book and my words became a commodity…” (p. 91). How has this impacted her relationship with Fen? Consider her statement “I only know that when F leaves and B and I talk I feel like I am saying --- and hearing --- the first wholly honest words of my life” (p. 198).

10. On several occasions during the novel, Nell refers to an Amy Lowell poem, “Decade.” Why do you think the poem holds such meaning for her? How does the poem’s central idea --- of feelings for a lover changing from the sweet, almost painful intensity of red wine into the blissful satisfaction of bread --- relate to her and her own relationships?

11. While Nell declares later that “He is wine and bread and deep in my stomach” (p. 247), do you believe that Bankson was able to give Nell the freedom she was looking for? How or how not? Could it have led inevitably to her death?

12. How far would you consider Nell to be the epitome of a young, independent accomplished woman? Talk about her character, her personality, work habits and motivations. Then discuss her disturbing relationship with Fen, and her inability to escape his harm. How did she end up in such an untenable situation?

13. In one journal entry, Nell writes: “I am angry that I was made to choose, that both Fen & Helen needed me to choose, to be their one & only when I didn’t want a one & only” (p. 92). Consider Nell’s relationship with Helen as compared to her relationship with Fen and talk about the reasons she may have chosen Fen over Helen. Do you think that she made this decision or it was made for her?

14. Set against a distant backdrop of a Western world mired in doubt and economic depression, the novel can be seen to depict a search for understanding, for a sense of order. Look at the ways in which the study of the tribes of New Guinea reflects the protagonists’ desperate search for meaning --- a search that can lead to a sense of failure or instead to Nell’s euphoria when “at that moment the place feels entirely yours” (p. 50). Find instances of despair and disillusionment for Nell, Fen and Bankson in their various work experiences. How do they react?

15. What do the three of them really see in the tribes of New Guinea? To what extent, when unlocking the puzzles of the Kiona and the Tam, are they searching for meaning within themselves? How important is it to impending events that the Tam tribe appears to be female-dominated?

16. In the context of the previous two questions, talk about the significance of the Grid to the three anthropologists. What does it represent to them? Why does Bankson refer to a “shift in the stars” caused by the Grid?

17. Discuss the glimpses the novel gives into the world of 1930s colonialism --- in the conversations with Westerners in New Guinea and in Australia; and in Bankson’s, Nell’s and Fen’s attitudes to the tribes they study and the Western society to which they must eventually return. How, if at all, do Nell, Fen and Bankson take colonial approaches toward their research practices and anthropological subjects? What is the role of Xambun as he rejoins his tribal village after being recruited by a Western company? Is it possible to live between the two worlds?

18. Fen briefly mentions a dark family secret, then continues the conversation to discuss the primitive world versus the “civilized world”: “Nothing in the primitive world shocks me, Bankson. Or I should say, what shocks me in the primitive world is any sense of order and ethics. All the rest --- the cannibalism, infanticide, raids, mutilation --- it’s all comprehensible, nearly reasonable, to me. I’ve always been able to see the savageness beneath the veneer of society” (p.137–38). What does this say about Fen? How far do you agree with his comment, especially in the light of events that follow in the novel?

19. For all of Nell and Bankson’s heartfelt conversations, and Bankson’s keen observations of her at work, there are many important things left unsaid. Nell states: “You don’t realize how language actually interferes with communication…how it gets in the way like an overdominant sense” (p. 79). Should Bankson have understood further Nell’s sadness within her marriage, Fen’s physical abuse? As a reader, do we miss the clues too?

20. Discuss Fen’s obsession with the flute, and the reasons why it ultimately leads to the destruction of so much: the anthropologists’ relationship with the Tam tribe, Fen’s relationship with Nell and Bankson. If Xambun had not been killed, would it have been acceptable for Fen to take the flute?

21. Continue your discussion to consider whether an anthropologist must always betray in some way the tribes he/she works with. How does Nell writing books about the people she studies differ from Fen selling the flute to a museum? Was Nell’s work in the field beneficial to the Tam or to the children of Kirakira? Are her reasons for working with them ultimately as selfish as Fen’s need to profit from the flute? How morally responsible are Bankson and Nell for Xambun’s death?

22. Fen justifies taking the flute so that he can restore balance to his relationship with Nell: “There has to be a balance. A man can’t be without power --- it doesn’t work like that” (p. 238). Contrast this with Nell’s thoughts on balance: “[P]erhaps a culture that flourishes is a culture that has found a similar balance among its people” (p. 144). Do you think they are talking about the same thing? Does balance always need to rest on power?

23. Trace Bankson’s emotional and intellectual development throughout the course of the novel, ending with his visits from his biographer. How do you think his experience with Nell and Fen affected and changed him? Talk about what may have kept him going after Nell’s death. Why did he not revert back to his suicidal path? Consider the quote that holds so much meaning for him from war poet Edward Shillito’s “Hardness of Heart”: “Tears are not endless and we have no more.”