Followers (Angelo) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Marlow’s story, in 2051, imagines a gentle extrapolation of the technologies we have now. What do you think future versions of our technology might look like, and how might they impact our lives? Think of other books, movies, or TV shows that imagine a near future. What is different or similar about this one?

2. Marlow lives a life that seems glamorous, but that grants her very few choices. What did you make of the things she takes back for herself—like her sense of smell—and what does it mean to her? How different do you think Marlow’s life is from that of current celebrities, especially those who were famous as children?

3. If you had to choose between the incredible fame that Floss, Orla, and Marlow experience—and all the wealth and power it brings—or absolute freedom and privacy, which would you choose?

4. Orla and Floss have a complicated bond. Are they friends, exactly, or something more difficult to define? What did you make of their relationship?

5. Why do you think Honey dresses in and surrounds herself with white?

6. How does being a father affect Aston’s character development?

7. Think about the things that Orla and Floss want, respectively. How different do you think they are? How alike?

8. Followers raises many questions about privacy in our digital age. What do we give up and what do we gain with devices that make our lives easier? Does easier necessarily mean better? What kinds of choices are we making every day, without even realizing we’re making them? What do these choices cost us?

9. Discuss Orla’s relationship with her parents, Gayle and Jerry, and to her hometown of Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

10. Marlow is forced to make a terrible choice about her reproductive freedom. Reflect on this choice in light of our current society and the restrictions it places on women’s rights.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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