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 Room of Marvels:
1. When Tim Hudson says he has arrived at "God's address," what does he mean? Is that a literal...or metaphorical address?
2. Why does Hudson head to a monastery? What is he hoping to find...or escape from?
3. What is the state of Hudson's faith at this point? What is he questioning?
4. Why does Tim find Brother Taylor irritating? What role does Brother Taylor play in Tim's soul journey?
5. Talk about the significance of Tim's dream. What happens, whom does he meet and where is he taken? Is it a dream, or is it something else? (For Narnia lovers, who is Jack?!)
6. What does Tim learn through his dream? What are the lessons or insights he gains about himself and his life? Are those insights applicable to you...to others?
7. A review by Faithful Reader says that everything in this "dream revolves around love: love given, taken, rejected, fulfilled." Discuss that observation: what does it mean; do you agree?
8. How does this book portray death? Does it open up, or offer, a different perspective? Or does it align with your own perspective?
9. Has this book altered you? How does Smith present Christianity, or what it means to be religious? Does he present a different view or one that is similar to your own?
10.Would this book—its message—be of help to someone grieving the loss of a loved one? Would you recommend it to others who are not in the midst of grief?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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