Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The End of Mr. Y:
1. Is Ariel a winning narrator? Why or why not? Would you describe her voice as sassy...or whiney? How would you describe her as a character? In what way is she an addictive personality (as she describes herself)?
2. Ariel says, "Give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book...." Why is the book world more attractive to Ariel than the physical world? Do you ever feel that way? Is that why we read...why you read?
3. What exactly is the Troposphere? Is it an alluring place...or not? A reviewer from the Telegraph (UK) likened it to surfing the web. Good analogy? How is the Troposhpere a metaphor for literature?
4. Is the Troposphere "real"? How does Scarlett Thomas use Derrida's and Heidegger's ideas for her Troposphere? (In other words, how is the Troposhpere a manifestsation of the philosophical ideas of phenomenology?)
5. Is the "real" world real? Based on the theroy of quantum physicals—with its mysterious quarks and charms—how "real" is our 3-dimenionsal physical realm?
6. Does something have to be thought of in order to be real? For example: did Einstein create relativity by thinking it into existence? How does Thomas apply Einstein's theories to conjure up her fictional world?
7. What about the weighty intellectualism of Derrida, Heidegger, or Einstein? Do they get in the way of the plot? Do Ariel's digressions into homeopathy interest you?
8. Ariel must accomplish two tasks: halt the breeding of a line of laboratory mice and stop the writing of Mr. Y. How do those tasks represent time and the metaphysical relationship of past, present, and future?
9. Are the passages from the Lumas book of interest...or do they drag the book's pacing down?
10. Consider the name Ariel.
- Ariel possesses special powers within the Troposphere. How does that suggest the symbolism of her first name?
- Ariel Manto" is an anagram of "I am not real." What's the joke? How is this a philosophical comment on the book...its very existence, its ideas, your reading it, your talking about it?
11. Is Apollo Smitheus a more appealing hero than Adam? To what does the Mouse God owe his existence...and what does that suggest about the power of thought?
12. What does Adam's role as an ex-priest suggest about religion?
13. Talk about the book's title as a pun, "The End of Mystery." What does the pun mean?
14. How does this book explore the importance in life of literature? Does it provide answers to the questions, why read fiction...what is fiction good for?
15. The joy of books lies in their disconnect from the real world. Certainly, Ariel's intellectual life is separate from her squalid physical life. Even her doctoral supervisor has disappeared from her real life. How does The End of Mr. Y pose a solution to the idea that one's creative / intellectual life is divorced the "real" world?
16. In what way is Ariel's task a classic quest-story?
17. Is the ending satisfying? What questions about the nature of reality are you left with after having read this book?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
top of page (summary)