January 2016 Book Selection
The
Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, January 14th at 7
p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our January book, Lovers
at the Chameleon Club: Paris 1932 by Francine Prose.
Discussion
questions are below.
Here
are some links for additional background and information:
Video interview with author,
Francine Prose
Article
discussing the book with terrific links for additional information
Brassaï
biography with some of his Paris photographs
Coming
up, we have the following books to look forward to reading:
Thurs.
Feb. 11th Station
Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Thurs.
Mar. 10th The
Martian by Andy Weir (the One Book/One
Marin selection)
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
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932
1. The story of Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932
centers around Lou Villars. Who is she? What do we learn about her as the novel
progresses? What three adjectives would you use to describe her?
2. The novel is told in the voices of the various
contemporaries of Lou. How does this method of narration add to the drama and
depth of the story? Do you trust one viewpoint more than another? Did you like
one narrator more than another?
3. There is another voice in the novel that is not part of
Lou's circle—or even of the time—Nathalie Dunois. What does her voice add to
the story? When you learn about Nathalie later in the book, how does it affect
your understanding of Lou? What is Francine Prose trying to convey to us about
the nature of narrative truth? Can we trust any of the characters in the book?
Can we ever trust personal narrative—whether in fiction or nonfiction? What are
the implications for our understanding of these characters—especially Lou?
4. Discuss Lou's circle—the photographer Gabor Tsenyi, his
girlfriend Suzanne Dunois, Baroness Lily de Rossignol, the Chameleon Club's
manager, Yvonne Nagy, the American journalist Lionel Maine, German racer Inge
Wallser, and even the collaborator Jean-Claude Bonnet. What impact did they
have on Lou's life and outlook? Describe a few of them as individuals and their
relationships with each other. What do they each think of Lou? What do Lou's
subsequent actions hold for each of their lives? Choose one character and tell
the story from his or her viewpoint.
5. What precipitated Lou's actions before and during the
war? Was it spurned love, lost opportunity, or something more? Think about her
character. Might Lou have acted the same way even if circumstances were
different? How much influence did the Nazis have over her? Think about her
childhood. How did the circumstances of her youth shape her? What about notions
of nationalism and cultural chauvinism? Did they color who she was? Do you
think she ever really considered the consequences of her choices?
6. Talk about the Chameleon Club. What purpose does it serve
in the novel? Who were its patrons and what drew them there? What about Lou?
How were places like the Chameleon Club indicative of their time?
7. Discuss the Paris that is recreated in the pages of the
novel. How is the city itself a character? What is intriguing about Lou
Villar's Paris? Would you have liked to visit this Paris? Can you feel the
winds of change shifting in the novel? How does Francine Prose create mood and
atmosphere? How do both add to the story as it unfolds?
8. In her biography of Lou, Nathalie writes, "Not only
does creative work mine the rich veins of the unconscious, it also has an
uncanny ability to obtain what the artist needs, from the world." How does
creative work "mine the rich vein of the unconscious"? How does it
have "an uncanny ability to obtain what the artist needs, from the world'?
Use examples from this work or another to explain your understanding of Nathalie's
words.
9. What is the role of art in the novel? How is it used to
elevate the spirit and how can it be used for evil? Think about the period. How
did the Nazis use art to promote their cause?
10. Would Lou feel at home with the political atmosphere
today—the divisions between left and right, the anger over immigration, the
"takers" and the "makers"? How does Lou's world compare to
today? Use examples from the story to illustrate your ideas.
11. Late in the novel, the Baroness confides, "During
the Occupation we learned to live with fear and humiliation, anger and insults,
the witnessing of horrific scenes one could hardly believe were real." How
did their lives and their art change as the political situation shifted —as
their feelings of freedom turned to terror as fascism took hold?
12. At the end of the novel, well after the war, we learn
that Lionel Maine is obsessed with the end of the movie Carrie, from Stephen
King's horror novel. Why do you think that final scene—of the dead Carrie's arm
punching through the ground where she is buried—affects him so much?
13. What are your impressions of Lovers at the Chameleon
Club, Paris 1932? Did it meet your expectations? What made your group choose to
read the novel? What did you take away from your reading? If you've read other
stories that bring to life this period and place, how do they compare to Lovers
at the Chameleon Club?
14. What is the significance of Pablo Picasso’s story of the
artist in Malaysia who learns he is living with cannibals when he goes on to
describe French culture? “The French are cannibals. Those Malays or whoever
have nothing on the French. .. Picasso said that he and I, an American and a
Spaniard, were the same to the French. They would eat us when they get hungry…
