History of Wolves (Fridlund) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for History of Wolves...then take off on your own:

1. How would you describe young Linda, not as a narrator of 37 but as she was in her teenage years? Do you consider her a sociopath, a narcissist, or simply a self-protective teenager?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: Is there a difference between Linda's adult voice as narrator and her younger self? Has she acquired wisdom since that fateful time in the woods?

3. What creates the bond between Linda and Patra and Paul—what draws them to one another?

4. Talk about Linda's parents and the way in which the author sets the two families up in contrast to one another.

5. Follow-up to Questions 3 and 4: One of the themes within History of Wolves is what constitutes family: is it flesh and blood...or is it something else? Talk about the nature of being a family.

6. How do the household dynamics change when Leo returns home to Patra and Paul?

7. Do a bit of research into Christian Science—consider its history and some of its tenets.

8. What do you think about the tragedy at the heart of this novel? To what extent does a family have the right to follow its own deeply-held religious beliefs?

9. In what way could you say that Linda's comment—"It's not what you think but what you do"—represents one of the moral lessons of the novel?

10. Mr. Grierson appears in the opening of the book, then disappears from the action, only to reappear again. His story can be seen as a parallel to Patra's, yet they are treated differently under the law. Are their respective treatments just?

11. In what way does the novel's setting, the frigid winter conditions of northern Minnesota, contribute to the story. Consider, for instance, that the weather deprives humans of warmth or comfort. Does the cold, perhaps, mirror human contact?

12. Consider the title, "History of Wolves." What is it's significance to the book's thematic concerns?

13. Do the shifting time frames make this book confusing...or do they add to its propulsive nature?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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