August 14 - Malia's place

Hey Gals...

Note to self: short blogs inspire more comments...however, this one is kinda long.

Time for a sunny book club meeting in August! The date is August 14, time 6:30 unless Malia says otherwise. My favourite discussion questions from the Reading Group Guide to get you thinking are below. Our next book - The Birth House. I've updated the side bar for some background info on the author, etc. It is a really cute website with lots of material I'm sure will make even more sense while reading the book. It is a historical Canadian fiction book and I'm really excited about that, as I love historical fiction! Squeeeee!! I found this book in a 40% off bin at Safeway and I bet it's stacked up at Costco, or 30% off as one of Heather's picks on Chapters. Should be an easy find.


2. The Almost Moon opens with a startling confession. After the first several pages, why did you think Helen killed her mother? Did you feel sympathy for her at that point? As you learned more about Helen's relationship with her mother -- and her mother's overall mental state -- did your feelings about Helen change? Did you think she was more justified to act as she did, or did you lose sympathy for her?

4. What motivated Daniel to stay with Clair for all those years? Do you think his bouts of depression stemmed from a difficult home situation, or did he have larger issues? Should he have taken his daughter and left his wife—for Helen's sake, if not for his own -- or did he do the right thing by taking care of his wife so that she wouldn't have to be in an institution? How much do we owe to those we love or have married?

5. What moves Helen to seek a physical connection with Hamish? Did you think their interaction was more than just physical? Was their relationship troubling to you, and was Natalie right to be angered by it?

6. Helen's two daughters, Emily and Sarah, are very different from each other, at one point reminding Helen of polarized magnets (page 80). Helen also tells Jake that "You left the girls. . . . I may not have been perfect, but I didn't take off. . . ." (page 167). Do you think Helen was a good mother? Was she a better mother to Sarah than to Emily? How do you feel her daughters would respond to that question?

10. How did you interpret the ending of the novel? What is the best way for Helen to make amends or atone for what she did? Or is there no way for her to make things right?