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)
Coming
up, we have the following books to look forward to reading and discussing:
Thurs.
Oct. 13th Inherent
Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Thurs.
Nov. 10th Season
of the Witch by David Talbot
Thurs.
Dec. 8th 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?
