Blue Archipelago

1. Was the author focused on particular themes? How did the author highlight them? Were they successful in getting these themes across to the reader? Do you agree with the author’s views?

2. Did the themes blend well together and arise naturally out of the story or did the author seem to be labouring a particular point?

3. What was different or unique about the story’s setting and did it enhance or detract from the story?

4. Could you relate to the characters? Did you empathise with them and their plight?

5. How do the characters evolve or change in the course of the novel? Were the changes believable?

6. Did the book affect you in a personal way, such as offending you or making you uncomfortable? Did you reassess your views on certain topics because of the novel? Do you have a better or new understanding of certain aspects or a new awareness of something you’d never thought of before?

7. Are the characters or circumstances familiar to you?

8. Did the author do a good job of making the characters believable? E.g. do they speak in the right voice for their age group or the time period of the novel?

9. How do you feel about the author’s style? Is it lyrical, descriptive, objective, minimalist? Would the story have been told better if it was in the first person or third person? If it was told from multiple view points? If it employed flashbacks? Did the author use imagery and symbolism? Do you think that any literary devices used enhanced the book or were they just distracting?

10. If the book belongs to a ‘genre’, does the challenge the stereotypes in any way? Does it break the mould?

11. If the story is set in a historical time period, how do you feel about the image of the past? How would you have behaved in that time and faced with those issues? If the story is set in the future, was the vision of the future credible? Is it a future you would hope to happen or one that you fear?

12. If the book was written some time in the past, do you feel that it was dated well? Have things changed drastically since then?

13. How does the story reflect the author’s own life? Are there obvious influences? Is the story autobiographical? Is the book better because the author was able to draw on his own experiences?

14. What did you personally like or dislike about the book? What kind of person would you recommend this book to?

15. Is it possible to find a book interesting without actually really enjoying it? Were there any changes that would have enabled you to enjoy it more?

16. Is this book a “keeper”? Would you read it again?

17. Do you agree with the reviews of the book? Did it live up to positive reviews?

18. How well do the book’s cover and synopsis represent the book? Do they suit the story? Do it justice?

19. If you were writing a sequel, what would you plan for the characters? If the book did have a sequel, did things turn out as you expected? Were you disappointed?

20. Compare and contrast this book with others you have read – either by the same author or in the same genre or with similar themes or set in the same time period.

21. What did you think the book was about?

22. Did you feel that the book fulfilled your expectations? Were you disappointed?

23. Did the author seem to appear in the book? How? Why? Was the presence of the author disruptive? Or did it seem appropriate/fitting?

24. Did you enjoy the book? Why? Why not?

25. How did the book compare to other books by the author (or other books in the same genre)?

26. What about the plot? Did it pull you in; or did you feel you had to force yourself to read the book?

27. How realistic was the characterization? Would you want to meet any of the characters? Did you like them? Hate them?

28. Did the actions of the characters seem plausible? Why? Why not?

29. If one (or more) of the characters made a choice that had moral implications, would you have made the same decision? Why? Why not?

30. How does the setting figure into the book? Is the setting a character? Does it come to life? Did you feel you were experiencing the time and place in which the book was set?

31. How would the book have been different if it had taken place in a different time or place?

32. What are some of the book’s themes? How important were they?

33. How are the book’s images symbolically significant? Do the images help to develop the plot, or help to define characters?

34. Did the book end the way you expected?

35. Would you recommend this book to other readers? To your close friend?

36. What alternative title would you choose for this book?

37. How did the characters change from the beginning to the end of the story?

38. Did you like the way the book ended?

39. What question did the author ask, and how was it answered?

40. Is this book driven by the plot or the characters?

41. What did you think of the main character?

42. Take two or three of the characters and write about their relationship - how do they interact?

43. What did you like most about the book?

44. What did you like least?

45. What did you think of the writing style?

46. Are their any interesting characters besides the main character?

47. Has this book been made into a movie? How does the book compare to the movie?

48. Share a quote from the book

49. Have you read other books by this author? How did this compare?

50. Share a favourite scene from the book

Sources:

http://www.thereadingclub.co.uk/GoodQuestionsDiscussionTopics.html

http://bestsellers.about.com/od/bookclubquestions/Bestseller_Book_Club_Discussion_Questions.htm

http://classiclit.about.com/od/bookclubs/a/aa_bcquestions.htm

http://www.tabletopics.com/bookclub.html

http://deweymonster.com/

If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe here to have future posts delivered directly to your inbox or subscribe here to get them in your feed reader.