Discussion Questions for When God was a Rabbit

Hi bookmates,
Below we have listed a few of the questions for this Saturday's book chat.
This month's book is Sarah Winman's novel, When God was a Rabbit, we look forward to hearing what you all thought of the book.

1. What did the title ‘When God was a Rabbit’ mean to you?
2. The book was split into 2 distinctive parts. Did you enjoy one part more than the other? If so, which?
3. What do you think happened with Mr Golan? What did you make of the note on page 274?
4. What did you think of the events that occurred around September 11th 2001? Did you expect the Twin Towers to feature in the book?
5. Some things that happened were a bit too good to be true - Charlie turning up, Joe turning up alive after 9/11, Arthur getting hit by a coconut. Were there any moments like that for you?
6. The book features a number of events with heavy themes - terrorism, death of varying types, child molestation, kidnapping, illness etc but there was also quite a bit of humour. How does the book manage to balance the humour and tragedy? Or does it?
7. Even before Golan, Elly found it difficult to have friends. Why do you think Elly ended up as such a messed up individual who found it hard to hold down a job and have a normal relationship?
8. Elly and Joe never told her parents about Golan, Sarah Penny lied about her husband’s abuse, and her neighbours knew but didn’t report it. Why do you think people don’t report abuse – is it because they will end up like Jean, not being believed?
9. Discuss Dad and Mum’s marriage and how they coped with her parents’ deaths and his guilt over Jean. Do you think they had a strong marriage even with or because of the Nancy factor?
10. Which character did you like best? Empathise with the most?
11. What was the most memorable part of the book for you?
12. Discuss how you would feel if you had a family member who couldn’t remember you?
13. What would you do if you won the pools or lotto?
14. If you were an alien visiting earth and you found this book and read it, what kind of conclusions would you reach about humans?
15. What do you rate the book out of a scale of 1 -5. Would you recommend the book to anyone else?

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)