Book Group Notes: Atonement by Ian McEwan

The Literary Lady’s Book Group Guides are designed to generate discussion at your book group or as a way of enhancing your own reading experience. The discussion points offer a ‘route’ through the book but don’t feel you need to stick too rigidly to it if an interesting topic comes up that needs further discussion!

About the Book:

At the heart of Atonement is a simple idea: on a hot summer’s day in 1945, a young girl gives a false account of a serious crime and spends the rest of her life coming to terms with her part in it. From this one transgression, the novel expands into an epic story of war, love, childhood and guilt. McEwan’s skilful and vivid writing presents the reader with a novel about the responsibilities and the power of storytelling. 

Discussion Points: 

- The novel is split into three parts – one summer’s day in Briony’s youth, Robbie’s experiences at France during the war and Briony’s life as wartime nurse. There is also an epilogue with the elderly Briony in 1999. Which of these sections resonated most with you?

- ‘What was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was.’ Who is guilty in this novel? 

- What kind of family is the Tallis family? What do you make of the familial relationships and roles the characters engage in? 

- What part does war play in the novel? 

- What is the effect of McEwan’s visceral descriptions of war and violence? 

- How does the sex scene between Robbie and Cecilia contribute to our experience of the novel? What is the effect of Briony interrupting them?

- ‘Yes, I saw him. I saw him.’ What does Atonement say about truth and storytelling? 

- Geoff Dyer commented that with Atonement, ‘McEwan seems to be retrospectively inserting his name into the pantheon of British novelists of the 1930s and 1940s’. Does McEwan share similarities with writers like Virginia Woolf, D.H.Lawrence, E.M.Forster and Henry James?

- McEwan said he fell in love with Briony as a character. What was your impression of her? 

- Atonement was adapted for the screen in 2007. How does the film compare with the book? What would you have done differently if you made the film? 

Have you read Atonement? Join the discussion and leave a comment below! 

Book Group Notes: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The Literary Lady’s Book Group Guides are designed to generate discussion at your book group or as a way of enhancing your own reading experience. The discussion points offer a ‘route’ through the book but don’t feel you need to stick too rigidly to it if an interesting topic comes up that needs further discussion!

About the Book:

Charles Ryder, an impressionable young Oxford student, meets the enigmatic Sebastian Flyte and falls in love with his family and a world of privilege that is slowly decaying. This novel spans the years leading up to the First World War in a poignant exploration of faith, love and family. Your book group will love the decadent and desperate world Waugh will take them to.

Discussion Points:

•  If Brideshead Revisited is a love story, who are the lovers? Sebastian/Charles? Julia/Charles? Waugh/Church?
• What did you think of Charles Ryder as a narrator?
• Though often melancholy in tone, Waugh also employs comedy throughout. Did you find the book funny in any way
• “Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there's no room for the present at all.” What is the relationship between time, memory and self in the novel?
• The book is divided into distinctive acts, often punctuated by location – Oxford, Italy, Tunisia etc. Which part of the book did you find most compelling?
• What is unique about the Mortmain family? What is their particular dynamic?
• Discuss the religious conversions that take place in the story.
• How far does the Waugh interrogate the idea of a nostalgic England?
• Brideshead Revisited has been adapted twice - once for a major television series and again for a film – what do you think makes the novel so appealing to audiences?
• The book is often ranked highly in greatest books ever written lists. Do you think it deserves such praise? Why does it have this enduring appeal?

Have you read Brideshead Revisited? What were your thoughts on it? 

Book Group Notes: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Literary Lady’s Book Group Guides are designed to generate discussion at your book group or as a way of enhancing your own reading experience. The discussion points offer a ‘route’ through the book but don’t feel you need to stick too rigidly to it if an interesting topic comes up that needs further discussion!

About the Book

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a perfect book group read. Its philosophical themes are guaranteed to have your group talking. Wilde nimbly threads beautiful prose together with a simple yet dazzling premise: what would happen if it was possible to remain young and beautiful forever? 

Discussion Points:

- Who is to blame for Dorian’s downfall?

- What does the book tell us about the body and its relationship with beauty and sin?

- One review at the time said the novel ‘constantly hints at disgusting sins and abominable crimes.’ What is left unsaid in the book?

- Wilde is predominately known for his playwriting (this was his only novel). Do you think it was obvious from his writing style that he had a background in theatre? How would this novel play out on the stage?

- Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.’ This what Wilde had to say about his lead characters. Do you think authors tend to write extensions of their own fantasies? Discuss how autobiography influences writing.

- Is this a timeless story? Are there any parallels between the book and our beauty culture today?

- The character of Dorian has several reincarnations in popular culture. Why do you think this figure endures?

- With its themes of double identities, narcissism and temptation indulged, did the book remind you of any other works? 

- What is the significance of space and setting in this book?

Have you read The Picture of Dorian Gray? Let me know what your book group make of it…

More Book Group Guides: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 

Book Group Notes: Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

The Literary Lady’s Book Group Notes are designed to generate discussion at your book group or as a way of enhancing your own reading experience. The discussion points offer a ‘route’ through the book but don’t feel you need to stick too rigidly to it if an interesting topic comes up that needs further discussion!

About the Book

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the perfect choice for a book group. It is short, entertaining and guaranteed to generate conversation. Your book group will love the idea of escaping to Holly Golightly’s Manhattan for the evening. The book centres around the unnamed narrator as he befriends the eccentric, quirky socialite Holly Golightly. As the story unfolds Capote cuts through the excess and extravagance of Golightly’s lifestyle to reveal deeper issues at play.

Discussion Points:

• Holly and the narrator might be seen as polar opposites. Holly with her hate of cages and tradition represents freedom. The narrator is more reliable and stable. By the end of the novella is there a reversal? Which character did you identify more with?
• Truman Capote said that ‘all literature is gossip.’ In the book we rely on people’s stories about Holly. Can we ever be told a story from an objective viewpoint?
• Critic Paul Levine describes Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a love story of a different nature as its concerned with all forms of love – sexual, homosexual, asexual and spiritual. Do you agree? Which love story did you find most moving?
• Capote remarked that Golightly represents ‘a whole breed of girls who live off men but are not prostitutes. They're our version of the geisha girl.’ What do you make of this assessment? Does Golightly subvert or conform to a gender stereotype?
• How does setting effect the feel of the story? Is New York a character within the novella? Could the story’s setting be relocated to somewhere else?
• Have you see the film version? How does it compare with the book? Which did you prefer? Which was more moving? Do iconic film roles interfere with reading a book that’s been made into a famous film?

Have you read Breakfast at Tiffany’s?