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 Illumination Night:
1. Try thinking of Illumination Night as a fable, with symbolic elements that reveal much about the state of its characters' lives. How, for instance, does the opening set the stage, symbolically, for the events that follow in the novel. At one point, young Simon's can't see the path he's walking on, but sees a distance filled with light. He and his mother can peer into houses, as if watching a play.
2. What do you think of Vonny? What is happening in her marriage with Andre? At one point she thinks to herself, "you are simply a woman practicing the art of real life." What does she mean? What causes her agoraphobia?
3. How would you describe Jody? What has made her so angry and rebellious? What is her relationship with her grandmother, Elizabeth Renny? Could you accept her falling in love with a giant?
4. What brings Vonny and Jody, ostensibly rivals, together?
5. The story takes place on an island, land isolated by water. In what ways are the characters like islands? And how do they begin to connect with one another?
6. Talk about the other characters: Simon, who yearns to grow and who drives his bike down a set of stairs; Elizabeth who seems to be getting smaller and younger, who is blind but suddenly sees everything; and Eddie the giant who paints miniatures and tends his garden at night; even the dog who seems to have human empathy.
7. Are you satisfied with the ending of this novel? Why...or why not?
8. Alice Hoffman has said she believes in the magic that underlies everyday life. How does that belief get expressed in Illumination Night?
9. If you've read other novels by Hoffman, how does this one compare? If not, does Illumination Night inspire you to read more of her works?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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