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 Messenger:
1. What is the significance of Gabriel's name? How does he fit his name? Consider, too, his last name—Allon—which according to Silva means oak tree in Hebrew.
2. Talk about Gabriel Allon's back story—what in his life has inspired his devotion to Israel and his work in stopping international terrorism?
3. How does Silva portray Saudia Arabia and its involvement in both international terrorism and U.S. political life? What, for instance, makes the involvement of Abdul Aziz al-Bakari difficult for the American president and the C.I.A? Do you find Silva's depiction of the Saudis accurate or stretched?
4. Talk about Silva's characters—Sarah Bancroft, for example. Which are more fully developed and emotionally complex...and which are more one-dimensional?
5. What derails Gabriel's carefully laid plans with Sarah? Who (or what) is at fault?
5. What about Silva's depiction of torture? How did it affect your reading? Did it heighten your feeling of suspense or instill dread, fear, anger...what?
6. Silva raises difficult a number of issues: how to punish criminals/terrorists in the absence of a court of law; what stance should religious people take in the face of terrorism; how far can a country go to protect itself? All of these questions remain topical to modern geo-politics. Where do you stand on any one, or all, of these issues?
6. What do you know about the history of jihad, and how accurate do you feel The Messenger depicts terrorism's history? Some readers/critics have criticized Silva's worldview: feeling that Silva unfairly portrays all Arabs negatively—as evil or potential terrorists—and all Israelis as good. Agree...or not?
7. Did you enjoy the detailed information about the art world? Or did you find it distracting?
8. The Messenger is the second in a trilogy of books dealing with terrorism in today's world—Prince of Fire is the first and The Secret Servant is the third. Have you read either of these books...or any others in the Gabriel Allon series (totalling 8 in all)? If so, how does this book compare with the others?
9. Has this book altered your view of the roots of international terrorism...or how it should be confronted? If so, how. If not, why not?
10. Is the book's ending a satisfying one? Predictable or not?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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