Wednesday, December 13, 2017

News of the World by Paulette Jiles December 2017

December 2017 selection - News of the World by Paulette Jiles

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, December 14th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our December book, News of the World by Paulette Jiles.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:


Short bio of Britt Johnson – a real person




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


Thurs. Jan 11th            Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Thurs. Feb 8th             Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Thurs. Mar. 8th            Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Hochschild
                                    (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
News of the World by Paulette Jiles

1. Discuss Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd’s work as a newspaper reader. What does he bring to his audience, and what does he gain from his work besides financial compensation? What else might “news of the world” mean in the novel?
2. Why does Kidd accept the difficult job of returning Johanna home? What drives him to complete the job despite the danger and obstacles?
3. Why do you think Johanna wants to stay with her Kiowa family? What do you think she remembers of her life before she was taken?
4. What connects Kidd to Johanna? Why does she seem to trust him so easily?
5. What does Kidd worry may become of Johanna once she’s returned to her family? What does he know of the fate of other “returned captives”?
6. Doris Dillion says that Johanna is “carried away on the flood of the world...not real and not not-real.” She describes her as having “been through two creations” and “forever falling.” Do you agree with her assessment? Does Johanna remain this way through the course of the novel?
7. Discuss the various tensions in the novel: Indians and whites; soldiers and civilizations; America’s recent past and its unsure future. In what ways do these tensions underlie the story of Kidd and Johanna?
8. Imagine the perspective of Johanna’s Kiowa family. Why, do you think, they would’ve taken her in and raise her? Why would they give her up? How do you think they felt when they let her go?
9. Discuss the troubling moment when Johanna wanted to scalp her fallen enemy. How did that make you feel about her?
10. Partway through his journey with Johanna, Kidd feels as though he was “drawn back into the stream of being because there was once again life in his hands.” What do you think this means? What does it tell you about Kidd’s emotional life?
11. How does Johanna’s time with the Kiowa Indians shape her identity, for better or worse?
12. What kind of man is Captain Kidd? What does his willingness to return Johanna to her family say about him?
13. How does the author depict post-Civil War Texas? What kind of place and landscape is it? Is the war actually over for the people Kidd and Johanna meet along their journey?

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