Andrea Levy's The Long Song Discussion Questions for June's SBC meeting

Hi bookmates,

Here our questions for this Saturday's Book Chat discussion of Andrea Levy's The Long Song.
1. What did you think of the cover – did it make you think of Jamaica or sugar cane plantations?

2. At first July’s narration annoyed me, (the way she would say “dear Reader” and I had doubts about her tale), but once I read Thomas’s comment that she had multiple versions of how she was born I was able to let go of my disbelief and just flow with her narration. Did the author’s narrative structure work for you?
3. Did you enjoy the descriptive language of the novel? Or did you find yourself fighting the urge to skim paragraphs?
4. While reading I found myself thinking that if I lived in the time of slavery I would be more of a Nimrod rather than a Godfrey.
Discuss the effects of slavery on the following characters, Kitty, July, Godfrey and Nimrod.
5. How did slavery influence the way Caroline, Tom, Agnes, John and Robert behave towards others?
6. Did you think Caroline and July’s relationship rang true, especially after the introduction of Robert?
7. Who was your favourite character?
8. Which character did you empathise most with?
9. Discuss the role of the church in the novel.
10. Throughout the book Thomas and July’s have differences of opinion over the book. Who did you sympathise most with July or Thomas?
11. Do you think Thomas or July will ever find out what happened to Emily? What do you think happened to Emily?
12. When I first started the novel, and found out that Thomas was printing his mum’s memoir my initial reaction was “oh no this is another The Help” but it wasn’t The Long Song was a much darker tale. Do you agree or disagree? Did you find any similarities between the two novels?
13. How did you rate the novel from 1 to 5

Ben Elton's Blind Faith Discussion Questions and Notes from May's SBC meeting

Hi Bookmates,
Here are the notes from May's book discussion.1. This book was written in 2007. Do you think since then the world has become a bit more like this 'Blind Faith' world with the enormous usage of Facebook, twitter, Youtube?
Agreed by the group that now days there are a number of people that will do strange things to get their 15 minutes of fame. Talked about experiences when travelling on the train – its unusual to see people reading, most people get out their phones, laptops, ipods. Reality show have contributed too.
2. What did you think of the ending? With Trafford gone and all his fellow Humanists locked up, who would have continued with the organising of the Ev Love revolution?
Most thought that there would be someone who would have taken over with the organising of the Ev Love reolution. Comparisons to historical events made, such as Joan of Arc.3. Did you ever have any suspicions that Sandra Dee was a spy?
Some members did, some didn’t. Those that did thought she was too good to be true. She had too much freedom to rebel, whereas others, such as Cassius, went along with what the rest of the population did and did all his rebelling behind the scenes.4. There were some amusing parts to this book which I suppose you would expect from Ben Elton. I enjoyed the Jerry Springer type scenes from the confessions on pg 172. And also the names people had. Have you put any thought into a name you might like if you lived in this world? Or was there one particular name that amused you? (Barbieheart, Princess Lovebud, Tinkerbell, Kahlua, Caitlin Happymeal, Gucci KitKat, Phoenix Rising, Supernova, Lexus, Heavenly Braveheart etc)Members hadn’t put much thought into what name they would have used. Did find the names amusing, although some found it distracting when reading the book. Also a comment was made that a lot of people today uses aliases when signing up to different computer sites.5. The plot use of vaccination is quite realistic as many parents today do not to vaccinate their children against common ailments, such as measles etc. Diseases such as TB which was thought to have been eradicated in New Zealand have appeared in recent times. On the other side Super Bugs are increasingly common in hospitals, which would you prefer blind faith in science or in the temple?Discussion on peoples attitude to vaccinations today. Maybe some complacency occurs. Also the effect of media on the decisions parents make. Most would prefer faith in science – which is not necessarily blind faith as it has proven good results.
6. I would have liked to know a bit more about what happened to the world. We got a bit of info from pg 143 and bits and pieces throughout the book as part of the story but I would have liked more.
Others agreed with this. What for instance happened to the intelligent leaders of the world? What happened to other parts of the world eg USA
7. Was there anything you liked about this world? eg working from home most of the time except for fizzy coff days. pg 10
No, the majority thought there was nothing to like. Constant noise, half naked people, disease, etc
8. Discuss the title Blind Faith, did it fit the novel or sum up the unoriginality of the novel?
Yes, title suited the book.
9. How did you rate the novel from 1 to 5
Average of 3.3 out of 5
(2.5 NM, 3.5 ML, 3 MR, 3.5 JG, 4 VO, 4 LC, 4 SD, 4 NP, 3.5 DS, 3 MO, 2 PB, 2.5 GV)