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 Secret Cardinal:
1. Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end of the story. Also visit the author's website to read some of the posted news clips regarding Chinese imprisonment of Catholic bishops. How does the fact that The Secret Cardinal is based on real-life events affect your reading?
2. Talk about Nolan Kilkenny? What kind of character is he? What skills does he bring to his mission? What about his moral code: does he have one? How does he differentiate which actions are acceptable, or unacceptable, in accomplishing his goal?
3. One reader notes that Kilkenny's mission demonstrates the adage that we are not alone in the world: Kilkenny's survival and success depend on teamwork and "help from unexpected quarters." What does the reader mean by that observation—and do you agree with it?
4. What about the technology devised by the military? Eye-popping? Which was most impressive? Think also about the consequences, in real life, of the U.S. military becoming involved in such a mission? Should it?
5. How has Yin Daoming survived his years of imprisonment? What special strengths does he exhibit? How has he...how does anyone...maintain faith in the face of isolation and torture?
6. What is your reaction to the torture scenes? Overly graphic...or powerful and necessary to the storyline?
7. Talk about the Vatican sections of the book, especially those regarding the papal selection: did you find them interesting and enlightening...or a dull and unnecessary digression?
8. How different do you find this book in its treatment of the Catholic church from, say Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons?
9. Does this book deliver in terms of a thriller: is it fast-paced with surprising twists and turns? Or is it plodding and predictable? Is the ending satisfying...or lacking in someway?
10. Should more attention be paid to the Chinese treatment of Catholics? Should more international efforts be directed toward achieving the bishops' release? Why has this issue not reached the scandalous proportions of any sex-charged political story that has captured public attention? Does the US, or any Western country, have the necessary leverage to affect change in China's behavior?
11. Is this book a religious book?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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