Friday, April 12, 2013

The End of Your Life Book Club - Discussion 1

In full disclosure, I haven't started reading yet. Well, I take that back, yesterday I read the first paragraph. Umm yeah.. Sooo... I figure that I'm the only one reading it because you've all read it already, I'm not thinking I will have any spoiler ending type questions except for myself. I'll get on that reading thing this weekend. Though, I do need to re-read Gatsby for Books & Bars and Case Histories by Kate Atkinson for another group. I think I may have over extended myself.

1. Why does Mary Anne always read a book’s ending first? How does this reflect her character?

2. Throughout the book, Will talks about books as symbols and sources of hope. How has reading books served a similar function for you?

3. How does religious belief help Mary Anne? How do you think it might have helped Will?

4 Mary Anne underlined a passage in Seventy Verses on Emptiness, which resonated with Will: “Permanent is not; impermanent is not; a self is not; not a self [is not]; clean is not; not clean is not; happy is not; suffering is not.” Why did this strike both of them as significant? What do you think it means?

5. Mary Anne especially liked a passage from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson: “When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?” (page 96) Why do you think this moved her so much? What did it mean to Will?

Have a good weekend! I'm hoping to catch up soon!

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