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 Quentins:
1. This book is a compilation of vignettes, bringing together various characters and their stories under one roof, or novel. There are Martin and his son Jody; Maggie; Drew; Mon; Yvonne, Frank and his three daughters; Laura; and Quentin himself. Which characters and their stories do you find most compelling? Which characters do you come to care most about?
2. What kind of character is Ella—how would you describe her? Why is she drawn to Quentins as the locale for her documentary?
3. How does Quentins reflect the new Dublin, a city burgeoning with new-found wealth in the 1990s? How has the restaurant and its clientele changed to reflect the new Dublin?
4. If you've read some of Binchy's other works how do you feel about the reappearance of some of the characters in this novel—Signora and Aidan (from Evening Class); Tom, Cathy, Simon and Maud (from Scarlett Feather); as well as Ria (from Tara Road)? Do you feel the characters have the same vibrancy they evinced in those other works?
5. Does Binchy's technique—of separate narratives linked together by a single location or individual—feel unified to you...or disjointed? Do you enjoy moving from character to character and learning their individual stories? Or do you prefer to follow the story of one central character?
6. Maeve Binchy is known for her gift of rich characterization. However, episodic structures, such as used in this work, risk presenting under-developed rather than fully-developed characters. In your opinion, does Binchy succeed in creating well-rounded, life-like characters in Quentins...or not? (Remember, please, this is only opinion!)
7. What about the side storyline of the missing money? Does that create a degree of suspense?
8. What do you think the future holds for Ella's relationship with Derry King?
9. In what way can this be seen as a coming-of-age story? What does Ella come to learn about herself and/or the world by the end of the novel?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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