See larger image Up from the Blue (Paperback) By (author) Susan Henderson List Price: 8.99 GBP New From: 2.40 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Tillie Harris is alone in her new house when she feels her first contractions, six weeks before they’re due. In desperation she reaches out to her estranged father for help, but her decision brings with it memories that she’s been running from since she was a little girl. Memories of an eight-year-old self wild and uncontrollable, a disciplinarian father, a cowed brother, a mother, intensely loved but led to disturbing and extreme acts, and the one year when the bonds of family were finally stretched too far. Up from the Blue is a spirited debut from an author boldly following in the footsteps of Lionel Shriver and Mark Haddon.

“Fierce and tender” – Daily Mail

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See larger image The Virgin Suicides (Paperback) By (author) Jeffrey Eugenides List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 7.92 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

For some time the Lisbon sisters have intrigued the neighbourhood’s teenage boys. They watch the girls from a house across the street, longing to catch their most intimate moments. When the most daring finds a way into their house he discovers thirteen-year-old Cecilia in the bath, her wrist slit. Although Cecilia’s first suicide attempt fails her second, a gruesome plunge on to a fence below her bedroom window, succeeds.

Already confined by their mother’s draconian strictness, the girls find themselves under lock and key after the adventurous Lux returns late from Homecoming after taking off with Trip Fontaine, the school heartthrob. The boys dedicate themselves to observing the sisters, searching out and savouring evidence of their lives, from scraps of their hair to their discarded underwear. As time wears on Lux is seen making love on the roof, Bonnie comes to the door most mornings clutching her pillow, Mr Lisbon loses his high school teaching job and the house begins to fall down around their ears. Under the boys’ watchful eyes, the girls seem to fade into shadows of themselves.

When the sisters eventually contact them in a bid to escape, the boys, eager to help, are ready. But the girls have another sort of escape in mind and soon the ambulance is at the door again leaving the boys endlessly speculating, quizzing anyone who will speak of the suicides, still asking why twenty years later.

Discussion

1. The Virgin Suicides is narrated through the collective voice of a group of boys who fell under the spell of the Lisbon sisters twenty years ago. Why do you think Eugenides chose this unusual method of narration? What effect does it achieve? How would you describe the tone of the narrative?

2. What does the book say about adolescence and in particular, what does it say about the attitudes of adolescent boys to young women? How would you describe the feelings of the collective narrator towards the sisters? How accurate a portrayal of adolescence do you think this is? How do other characters see the sisters and how does Eugenides convey these views? How different are those views from those of the boys?

3. ‘They weren’t all that different from my sister’ Kevin Head says after Homecoming. What is it about the Lisbon sisters that sets them apart from other young girls in the community and so intrigues the boys? How have the lives of the boys been affected by the sisters and what happened that summer?

4. How would you describe the Lisbon family and the relationships between its various members? We learn a great deal about Cecilia and about Lux but very little about Bonnie, Therese or Mary. Why does the narrator concentrate on these two sisters?

5. What effect does Cecilia’s suicide have on the community? How do people try to cope with it and how do their reactions change? How do their parents, their neighbours and their classmates treat the surviving sisters?

6. Several characters come up with an explanation for the suicides including Ms Perl, Dr Hornicker, Mr Hedlie and the narrator. Which one do you find most credible and why?

7. We know from the first paragraph that all five of the Lisbon sisters will take her own life. How did this affect your reading of the book? Are there other examples where Eugenides tells us what is about to happen? Why do you think he chose this structure and what effect does it achieve?

8. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that the boys have conducted an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the girls’ suicides. How well do you think this works as a narrative device?

9. ‘Wry and voluptuous with glittering black jokes carried along like seacoal by the smooth melancholy swell’ was one reviewer’s description of of the novel. How would you describe Eugenides’ use of humour? Were there particular passages that you found amusing and if so what were they? Why do you think he chose to treat such a serious subject in a humorous fashion?

10. At first the novel’s title appears straightforward but given Lux’s promiscuity, what do you think Eugenides means by it?

11. If you have seen Sophie Coppola’s film based on the novel, how well would you say the two compare? Are there particular themes or devices in the novel which lend themselves to film?

Further Reading

• A Crime in the Neighbourhood, by Suzanne Berne
• The Big House, by Helena McEwen
• The Ice Storm, by Rick Moody
• Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami
• Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
• The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

See larger image Middlesex (Paperback) By (author) Jeffrey Eugenides List Price: 8.99 GBP New From: 3.20 In Stock Used from: 2.49 In Stock

In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls’ school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry-blond classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, Callie has inherited a rare genetic mutation. The biological trace of a guilty secret, this gene has followed her grandparents from the crumbling Ottoman Empire to Detroit and has outlasted the glory days of the Motor City, the race riots of 1967, and the family’s second migration, into the foreign country known as suburbia. Thanks to the gene, Callie is part girl, part boy. And even though the gene’s epic travels have ended, her own odyssey has only begun.

Middlesex – Discussion

1. ‘Not me but somebody like me might have been made that night. An infinite number of possible selves crowded the threshold, me among them but with no guaranteed ticket’ (page 11). How important are both chance and fate in the novel? Does one or the other seem to be more important to Cal?

2. ‘If you were going to devise an experiment to measure the relative influences of nature versus nurture, you couldn’t come up with anything better than my life’ (page 19). How does Cal’s life illustrate this debate? Where do you stand in it?

3. ‘“This is America,” Lefty said. “We’re all Amerikanidhes now.”’ (page 99). To what extent does either Desdemona or Lefty become American? Are Milton and Tessie more American than Greek? What about Cal and Chapter Eleven?

4. Desdemona finds a refuge from her fears in both superstition and religion. To what extent do the two seem to overlap? What are Milton’s views? How important is science in the novel?

5. ‘What’s the matter with you people?’ asks Milton of Morrison who buys cigarettes from him during the 1967 race riots. To which Morrison replies ‘The matter with us … is you’ (page 246). What part does race play in the novel? How does Milton interpret this remark?

6. Middlesex is described in elaborate detail in the chapter of the same name. What do you think the house symbolises?

7. ‘Here’s a question I still can’t answer: Did I see through the male tricks because I was destined to scheme that way myself? Or do girls see through the tricks too, and just pretend not to notice?’ (page 371). To what extent does Cal combine what are traditionally seen as female qualities with male traits? Why does Cal decide to live as a man rather than a woman? What does he find difficult about changing gender? What regrets does he have? To what extent does he become reconciled to his new identity?

8. How important is social conditioning in Calliope/Cal’s gender identity? How do people react to his hermaphroditism?

9. Why do you think Dr Luce told Cal’s parents one thing, but wrote an entirely different report?

10. What does the book have to say about sexuality and desire?

11. Calliope is named after the muse of epic poetry. How appropriate does this name seem to be for Middlesex’s narrator? How important is Greek myth and literature in the novel? Milton dons his Greek tragedy and comedy cufflinks before the final appointment with Dr Luce. Does either or both seem appropriate to the novel and why?

12. How would you describe the tone in which Cal narrates Middlesex? How does it change and when? Would the novel have worked if it had been written in the third person? How would it have been different?

13. In American law Chapter Eleven provides a protective shield for failing companies on the verge of bankruptcy. Why do you think Cal refers to his brother as Chapter Eleven?

Further Reading

Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson
Birds Without Wings, by Louis de Bernières
Flesh and Blood, by Michael Cunningham
James Miranda Barry, by Patricia Duncker
The Empress of the Splendid Season, by Oscar Hijuelos
The Iliad, by Homer
Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne
Genome, by Matt Ridley

Resources

• Read an extract
• Interview on Powells.com
• Jeffrey Eugenides on writing Middlesex

See larger image Pigeon English (Paperback) By (author) Stephen Kelman List Price: 12.99 GBP New From: 4.26 In Stock Used from: 0.66 In Stock

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on an inner-city housing estate. The second best runner in the whole of Year 7, Harri races through his new life in his personalised trainers – the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen – blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him.

With equal fascination for the local gang – the Dell Farm Crew – and the pigeon who visits his balcony, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of inner-city survival.

But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to try and keep them safe.

• Download the Reading Guide

See larger image Far to Go (Hardcover) By (author) Alison Pick List Price: 12.99 GBP New From: 0.01 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Pavel and Anneliese Bauer are affluent, secular Jews, whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of the German forces in Czechoslovakia. Desperate to avoid deportation, the Bauers flee to Prague with their six-year-old son, Pepik, and his beloved nanny, Marta. When the family try to flee without her to Paris, Marta betrays them to her Nazi boyfriend. But it is through Marta’s determination that Pepik secures a place on a Kindertransport, though he never sees his parents or Marta again.

Inspired by Alison Pick’s own grandparents who fled their native Czechoslovakia for Canada during the Second World War, Far To Go is a deeply personal and emotionally harrowing novel.

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Reading Group Questions

1. Far To Go is the story of a Jewish family but a large proportion of the novel focuses on the thoughts and feelings of Marta, their non-Jewish nanny. What effect does this have?
2. “Hitler might be a bullying schoolboy. Or, he might be the man of the century” Does the novel suggest Hitler’s supporters were ignorant, evil, or misguided?
3. Which character do you empathise with most in this novel and why?
4. Betrayal is an important theme in the book. Is Marta’s betrayal understandable or unforgiveable?
5. Do you think Anneliese is a bad mother? If so, does she redeem herself in the novel?
6. What does the novel say about family? Is blood always thicker than water?
7. “The occupation would be short-lived, she told herself” How does it feel to experience the approach of war from the perspective of somebody who does not know what the future holds? Do you think optimism is a helpful emotion in times of crisis or does hoping for the best actually make things worse for the Bauer family?
8. Were you surprised by the ending? Did it influence your perspective on the novel as a whole?

Further Reading:

Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally
The Pianist, by Wladyslaw Szpilman
The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
Kindertransport, by Diane Samuels
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne

See larger image The Lake Shore Limited (Paperback) By (author) Sue Miller List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 0.01 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Since her boyfriend Gus was killed in 9/11, Billy has been pretending. It is easier for her to stay silent and go through the motions of grief than to tell the truth: that she was planning to leave Gus, and that his death left her feeling a mixture of ambivalence and anguish that she is still struggling to resolve. Drawing from her experience, Billy writes The Lake Shore Limited. The opening night of the play brings together three people whose lives intersect and interweave with Billy’s: Leslie, Gus’s older sister, haunted by his death and constantly aware of what could have been; Rafe, the actor who brings the joy and sadness of his own marriage into his role; and Sam, a recently divorced man who is irresistibly drawn to Billy’s distinctive, enigmatic beauty. Together these four voices create a mesmerizing novel of entanglements, connections and inconsolable losses.

• Read the extract

Discussion

1. Billy remarks, “There’s this set of things everyone expects from you.” (pg. 87). How do the expectations of others affect her? In particular, how does Leslie’s reaction after Gus’ death shape Billy’s actions?

2. Leslie is constantly aware of “possibility”, and wonders “weren’t there people, everywhere, who lived without it? Who didn’t imagine anything other than what was?” (pg. 7). How do various characters in the novel explore the possibilities offered to them? Is there anyone who, as Leslie imagines, does not imagine anything “other than what was?”

3. Both Sam and Rafe act as carers for their terminally ill wives. Discuss the strain that this puts on their families.

4. Leslie “sometimes wished she had the courage to tell Pierce, this isn’t good enough.” (pg. 187) Discuss Pierce and Leslie’s marriage.

5. Sam believes that Billy is “like a man in that regard, her passion for her work.” (pg. 216) What is the effect of contrasting Billy’s male name and traditionally “male” approach to her career with her childlike physicality? How does Sue Miller explore gender roles in this novel?

6. Billy initially opposed writing about Gus’ death, stating “to write about it would be to claim it in some way, and she had no claim.” (pg. 250).  To what extent is her play about Gus? Six years after his death, has she finally “claimed” it?

7. Themes of isolation, emptiness, and disconnection are central to The Lake Shore Limited. Discuss how the four narrators embrace or reject these feelings.

8. Leslie remembers Gus as “carefree” (pg. 127), while Billy describes him as “good… he was sweet.” (pg. 87).  How did Gus’ tragic death affect the way that they remember him? How do their memories of him differ?

9. “It had taken him this long to see that the play was about him. Denial, indeed.” (pg. 95) How does playing the role of Gabriel affect Rafe?

10. “Oh, this foot? You put it down in front of the other one.” (pg. 83) Discuss how Miller’s characters find the strength to carry on after the tragedies and disappointments they have endured.

11. Why do you think Sue Miller chose the 9/11 terrorist attacks as the reason for Gus’ death? Discuss the characters’ reactions to 9/11, and the politics present in the novel.

Further Reading

The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
Runaway, by Alice Munro (short stories)
The Other Family, by Joanna Trollope

See larger image The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai (Paperback) By (author) Ruiyan Xu List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 0.48 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

An explosion reverberates through the Swan Hotel in Shanghai, and it is not just shards of glass that come crashing down. Li Jing and Zhou Meiling find their marriage rocked to its foundations by the loss of the language that brought them together. For Li Jing, who is injured in the explosion, awakens from brain surgery only able to utter the unsteady phrases of English he learnt as a child – a language that Meiling and their young son Pang Pang cannot speak.

When an American neurologist arrives, tasked with coaxing language back on to Li Jing’s tongue, she is as disorientated as her patient in this bewitching, bewildering city. As doctor and patient sit together, feelings neither of them anticipated begin to take hold. Feelings that Meiling, who must fight to keep both her husband’s business and her family afloat, does not need a translator to understand.

Discussion

1. ‘There are voices and smells and images in the blink of his eyes but it is as though his senses have been scrambled, the taste of smoky darkness imprinting itself on his tongue.’ (pg. 14) Discuss the author’s use of the senses to describe the earthquake and its aftermath. Think, in particular, about the focus on sounds. How effective are these descriptions in evoking a sense of panic and danger? What is the significance of sound throughout the novel?

2. ‘Later, he would remember the last thing he said before his body was pierced. It was the last bit of Chinese he would utter for a long, long time.’ (pg. 16) Discuss how the novel explores the relationship between language and identity. What is the significance of Li Jing still being able to speak English, his childhood language, but losing the ability to speak Chinese, his native language?

3. The perspective of the novel changes at several points, allowing readers an insight into the feelings of both Meiling and Li Jing, whilst they are unable to communicate with each other. What role does this give to you, the reader, within the context of the narrative? What is the effect of this? Are you equally understanding of their respective actions or are you, at any point, inclined to take sides?

4. ‘For what right does he have to touch her? He can’t even say her name.’ (pg. 31)
‘His mind seals up, full of rage, impenetrable. He is locked in, without language as an escape valve.’ (pg. 153)

How does the author convey Li Jing’s desperation and frustration in trying to recover from his accident and re-learn Chinese? How effective is it?

5. Consider the character of Dr. Rosalyn Neal. What is our first impression of her? Think about her own struggle with the Chinese language – is the author drawing parallels between her and Li Jing? What other parallels can be drawn between the two characters?

6. The theme of isolation is prominent throughout the novel. Discuss how each protagonist experiences isolation, considering in particular the experiences of Li Jing, Meiling and Dr. Rosalyn. How does the author use the motif of silence to convey their loneliness, and how significant is this motif within the novel as a whole?

7. ‘She looks up into the polluted, silty air, the endless skyscrapers, the wide, empty boulevards, seeing only buildings, cars, construction cranes gawking in the air. There are no children here, no old people, no one practicing Tai Chi on the sidewalks, no shouts from vendors hawking food or batteries.’ (pg. 84) How important is the setting of the novel? How is the city of Shanghai characterized, and what role does it play within the story?

8. Consider how communication, or the lack of communication, affects the relationships in the novel. What other forms of communication, besides speech, affect the relationships of the protagonists? Are they given equal significance, or is speech presented as the most important mode?

9. What roles do the characters of Professor Li and Pang Pang play within the novel? Consider this in relation to the importance placed on family. What do the family dynamics of the Li family reveal to you, the reader?

10. ‘She does not allow herself to look down, but she knows the Swan Hotel is there with its debris, its emptiness that reaches up into all of them.’ (pg.154) What is the symbolic value of the recurring image of the Swan Hotel? What do you think it is represents for the characters?

11. ‘Perhaps in French, perhaps in English, perhaps with an American woman, the concept of love is entirely different. Perhaps love, in a different language, rushes through and spills out more easily, the words carrying the feelings along.’ (pg. 239) Discuss the different representations of love within the novel. How do they differ and which one, if any, is shown to be the greatest kind of love?

Further Reading

Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li

See larger image Monsieur Montespan (Paperback) By (author) Jean Teule List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 0.01 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Monsieur Montespan, by Jean Teulé

The Marquis de Montespan and his new wife, Athénaïs, are a true love-match – a rarity amongst the nobility of seventeenth-century France. But love is not enough to maintain their hedonistic lifestyle, and the couple soon face huge debts. When Madame de Montespan is offered the chance to become lady-in-waiting to the Queen at Versailles, she seizes this opportunity to turn their fortunes round. Too late, Montespan discovers that his ravishing wife has caught the eye of King Louis XIV. As everyone congratulates him on his new status of cuckold by royal appointment, the Marquis is broken-hearted. He vows to wreak revenge on the monarch and win back his adored Marquise. With this extraordinary novel, Jean Teulé has restored a ridiculed figure from history to the rightful position of hero, by telling the hilarious, bawdy and touching story of a good man who loved too well and dared challenge the absolute power of the Sun King himself.

• Enter the April competition to win a copy of Monsieur Montespan
• Read an interview with Jean Teulé
• Read an extract from Monsieur Montespan

The Questions

1) To what extent is this novel about Monsieur Montespan’s revenge? What does he achieve?

2) Monsieur de Montespan’s campaign of revenge gets increasingly desperate and sordid as the book progresses. Is he justified? Does the act of revenge have limits?

3) Did you have any problems with the Montespan’s relationship? Are there any points in the story where you dislike either of their characters?

4) Which character do you find most sympathetic, and whom do you like least? Who do you feel most sympathy for by the end of the story?

5) The book is based on a true story. Does Jean Teulé succeed in bringing that particular chapter of French history to life?

6) One critic described Monsieur de Montespan as a “bawdy romp”. Do you agree?

See larger image The Pindar Diamond (Paperback) By (author) Katie Hickman List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 0.01 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock

Venice, 1604. When rumours of a spectacularly rare and priceless diamond begin to circulate amongst the gamblers and courtesans of the Venetian demi-monde, the Levant Company merchant, Paul Pindar, becomes convinced that the jewel is somehow linked to the fate of his former love, Celia Lamprey.

As his obsession with the mysterious stone grows it becomes clear that there are other, more sinister forces at play. Is the diamond real, or is it just a trick to lure him to his ruin?

The Pindar Diamond moves from the canals of Venice to the coasts of Dalmatia, from a famed physic garden in the Venentian lagoon to the secret corridors of a convent – a tale of lust, love, greed, wealth and danger set among the Levant traders in the early years of the seventeenth century.

Written in the exquisitely evocative style that is Katie Hickman’s trademark, this is a gripping and superbly told story that goes as deeply into history as into the human heart.

Discussion

1. Describe Paul Pindar’s state of mind as the novel opens. Are his fortunes in as bad a state as Carew and Constanza fear? What are the sources of his desperation, and how are his friends able to guide him through his dark days in Venice?

2.    Consider how The Pindar Diamond brings early-seventeenth- century Venice to life. What sights, sounds, and smells of the ancient city does the novel evoke? Which characters suffer most from the dangers of the city: its temptations, debaucheries, and illnesses?

3.    Many of the characters in The Pindar Diamond strive for two types of fortune: money and luck. Who is successful in the search for riches? Who finds talismans of good luck? When does luck fail, and another force—love, fate, or even rash behavior—take over? When does a game of chance become a swindle for fortune?

4.    As Carew returns to the Santa Clara convent, he wonders, “Why was it … that nuns always held such a peculiar fascination?” (123–24) Compare the Santa Clara convent to Annetta’s previous home, the Sultan’s harem. Which place hides more secrets and intrigue: the convent or the harem?

5.    In a flashback, Maryam reveals the violence and horror of her childhood. What troubles did Maryam endure as a young giantess? How does Maryam’s past influence her present, as she tries to rescue the mermaid baby and its mother? What makes Maryam so determined to protect her two charges?

6.    Ambrose Jones is the most sinister villain in The Pindar Diamond, causing trouble all over Venice in a few short days. What motivates Ambrose’s ruthless search for the Sultan’s Blue and the mermaid?

7.    As Constanza deals a deck of tarot cards, two images keep reappearing: the Lovers and Death. Whose fates are revealed in these cards? Who represents the lovers, and whose ultimate fate is death?

8.    Compare the two short chapters that open each half of the novel: Chapter 1 (3) and Chapter 23 (157). What horrors at sea does the narrator describe? Why is the narrator voiceless in the first chapter, and what “baptism” and “rebirth” does she describe in the later chapter? What is the effect of the repetition between these similar chapters?

9.    The actual location of the Sultan’s Blue is unclear for much of the novel. Who seemed most likely to be hiding the precious diamond, before it appeared at the ridotto? How did it finally come into Zuanne Memmo’s hands?

10.    Consider the novel’s description of the ridotto, Zuanne Memmo’s secret gambling parlor. How does this room set the scene for the nerve- racking competition for the Sultan’s Blue? Why do the players mask their identities? What double-crosses does Pindar face during this gambling marathon in the ridotto?

11.    What does the inscription on the Sultan’s Blue—“My heart’s desire”—seem to mean? How does the meaning of the inscription change as the diamond changes hands? To whose “heart’s desire” does the diamond ultimately lead? Who is deceived or disappointed by the diamond’s powers?

12.    Elena, the illusionist in Maryam’s troupe of tumblers, plays a small but key role in The Pindar Diamond. What kind of relationship do Elena and Maryam have? What effect do Elena’s illusions—making items disappear and reappear—have upon other characters?

13.    Pindar risks his newly won diamond to read Celia Lamprey’s last poem. What longings, regrets, and desires does the poem express? Do you agree with Pindar’s interpretation of the poem—that Celia thought she would see her fiancé again? Or do you agree with Annetta’s belief that Celia knew she would not make it to the Aviary Gate? Explain your answer.

14.    Discuss the relationship between Annetta and Carew. What is the basis of their attraction? Their budding love story ends on an ambiguous note—why does Carew walk away from Annetta at the end of The Pindar Diamond? Might they ever meet again? Does Annetta’s health seem doomed by the plague that is sweeping through the convent?

15.    If you have read The Aviary Gate, Katie Hickman’s first novel about Paul Pindar and Celia Lamprey, how does The Pindar Diamond compare to the previous book? What future adventures can you imagine for Pindar, Celia, Annetta, and Carew?

Further Reading

The Aviary Gate and Courtesans by Katie Hickman
The Rosetti Letter by Christi Phillips
The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato
The Secret of the Glass by Donna Russo Morin
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran
Vivaldi’s Virgins by Barbara Quick
Murder of a Medici Princess by Caroline P. Murphy
The Floating Book by Michelle Lovric

Other Books by the Author

The Aviary Gate
Courtesans
Daughters of Britannia
Travels with a Circus
The Quetzal Summer
Dreams of the Peaceful Dragon

See larger image 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Paperback) By (author) Aron Ralston List Price: 7.99 GBP New From: 0.01 In Stock Used from: 0.01 In Stock Release date December 9, 2010.

On Sunday April 27, 2003, 27-year old Aron Ralston set off for a day’s hiking in the Utah canyons. Dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, Ralston, a seasoned climber, figured he’d hike for a few hours and then head off to work.

40 miles from the nearest paved road, he found himself on top of an 800-pound boulder. As he slid down and off of the boulder it shifted, trapping his right hand against the canyon wall. No one knew where he was; he had little water; he wasn’t dressed correctly; and the boulder wasn’t going anywhere. He remained trapped for five days in the canyon: hypothermic at night, de-hydrated and hallucinating by day. Finally, he faced the most terrible decision of his life: braking the bones in his wrist by snapping them against the boulder, he hacked through the skin, and finally succeeded in amputating his right hand and wrist.

The ordeal, however, was only beginning. He still faced a 60-foot rappell to freedom, and a walk of several hours back to his car – along the way, he miraculously met a family of hikers, and with his arms tourniqued, and blood-loss almost critical, they heard above them the whir of helicopter blades; just in time, Aron was rescued and rushed to hospital.

Since that day, Aron has had a remarkable recovery. He is back out on the mountains, with an artificial limb; he speaks to select groups on his ordeal and rescue; and amazingly, he is upbeat, positive, and an inspiration to all who meet him. This is the account of those five days, of the years that led up to them, and where he goes from here. It is narrative non-fiction at its most compelling.

Topics and Questions for Discussion

1. Environmentalist and writer Edward Abbey is something of a hero to Aron Ralston, as Ralston states right near the beginning of his book. “We each hold Edward Abbey—combative conservationist; anti-development; anti-tourism, and anti-mining essayist . . . as a sage of environmentalism [and who said]: ‘Of course, we’re all hypocrites. The only true act of an environmentalist would be to shoot himself in the head. Otherwise he’s still contaminating the place by his mere presence.’” (pp. 11–12) Where does Aron stand on this particular philosophy? Do you agree with Abbey that we ruin the natural environment by our mere presence within it?

2. How do the two girls, Megan and Kristi, respond to meeting Aron Ralston? What are their initial reactions to him? Why does he refuse their invitation to attend their gathering? What must he do first?

3. In Aron’s confrontation with the black bear, we see evidence of extraordinary bravery. “All I could do was keep hiking, hope I didn’t founder in the snow, and pray that the bear would leave me alone . . . I imagined he was sitting there grinning as I struggled to escape him.” (p. 49) What does this action say about Aron Ralston as a man and about his outlook on life?

4. Betty Darr, a family friend, suffered from polio, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. When Aron Ralston and his family went to the Grand Canyon, it was Aron’s responsibility to push her ‘Pony,’ as they called her electric wheelchair. As sunrise neared, Aron had a revelation: “I had never before sat and watched a sunrise for the sake of it, and I wasn’t at all prepared for how majestic it would be.” (p. 60) What changes occur inside Aron during this experience? How does this event alter his future?

5. Aron freely admits: “…I developed a passion and urgency to experience and discover the world that borders on obsession.” (p. 60) Do you believe that an “obsession” like this is necessarily a dangerous thing, or is it what pushes you to enjoy life most fully and intensely? Just how far would you go to experience the natural world and all of its wonders? Are there some places and events you are content to witness via a television or movie screen, or do you feel a strong desire to immerse yourself and have all your senses engaged?

6. As Aron chips away at the boulder that has locked his right hand, he can’t help but reflect on his life before he found himself in this dire predicament, facing starvation and death. What memories from his past occur to him as the days grow longer and his water runs out? How does he cope with facing his own mortality? Can you imagine how you would react in such circumstances?

7. Finding himself in precarious situations is nothing new for Aron Ralston. During the winter of 2000 while on a solo expedition to the Kit Carson Mountain and Blanca Peak, a rock shifted under the snow and pinned his leg. With some minor adjustments, he narrowly escaped: “Shrugging off the accident as a brief delay, I nevertheless avoided two other shallowly buried boulder fields during the remainder of the descent.” (p. 94) Did these experiences in some way prepare Aron for the fate that awaited him at Blue John Canyon? If so, how?

8. What does Aron mean by the term “deep play?” What is this philosophy? He writes, “Without any potential for any real or perceived external gain—fortune, glory, fame—a person puts himself into scenarios of real risk and consequence purely for internal benefit.” (p. 94) What is gained by the practice of “deep play?” Do you feel a greater admiration for people who undertake dangerous or grueling activities without any expectation of reward? Or is your appreciation of the activity the same no matter what the person’s motivation was?

9. Mark Twight, a writer mentioned in 127 Hours, has written two books about alpine mountaineering called Kiss or Kill—Confessions of a Serial Climber and Extreme Alpinism: Climbing Light, Fast and High.” Aron Ralston quotes him as saying “It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.” (p.94) What do you think this means? Is such a sentiment the mark of a brave adventurer or a sign of something more ambiguous? Do you think most people feel this way?

10. “Just after three P.M., I decide to video myself for the first time.” (p. 109) What propels Aron to do this? Is he at the point of giving up? For whom is he making this video? Or is it in some ways for himself?

11. As the hours pass and he considers his choices, Aron concludes that he has only four options left. What are they? What is the option he ultimately chooses? Could you make a choice like this or would you continue trying to find another alternative?

12. Aron’s camcorder eventually acts like a small digital confessional. What are some of the things Aron begins to confess into his video camera? If you were to make a recording in similarly dire circumstances, what kinds of things would you choose to talk about?

13. Aron’s actual cutting of his arm is a visceral and heart-wrenching part of his story. But once he frees himself, he is overwhelmed by a sense of freedom: “This is the most intense feeling of my life. I fear I might explode from the exhilarating shock and ecstasy that paralyze my body for a long moment as I lean against the wall.” (p. 285) This is truly a moment of mind over matter. What feelings did you experience as you read Aron’s description of his escape from near certain death?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Aron Ralston obviously admires and is inspired by the memoir Desert Solitaire (1968) by Edward Abbey. The book centers on Abbey’s experiences as a park ranger at the Arches National Monument. He discusses, among many other topics, the dangers of hiking alone.

Pick up Desert Solitaire and find out why, more than thirty-five years later, Aron Ralston was still drawn to the writing of this iconic American environmentalist, and compare Abbey’s own experiences and philosophies to those of Aron.

2. Aron Ralston makes reference to another fearless traveler, Christopher McCandless, whose story was chronicled in the nonfiction account Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Sadly, Mr. McCandless did not survive his trek into the Alaskan wilderness. Compare McCandless and Ralston’s journeys and the impulses that propelled them to go into such dangerous and beautiful landscapes alone.