Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Smile … then take off on your own:
1. The book's title is "Smile." Why is that ironic?
2. Describe the loneliness, perhaps despair, at the heart of Victor Forde's life. What role does Donnelly's pub play in easing his sadness? What does he want from his nightly visits?
3. Victor's career began with glittery promise. What happened? Same with his marriage.
4. What is it about Fitzpatrick that inspires in Victor an immediate dislike? What do you think of Fitzpatrick? How does he dredge up the pain of Victor's childhood — traumas which have lain buried within Victor's psyche for years?
5. What was the effect on Victor and his classmates of Brother Murphy's remark: "Victor, I can never resist your smile." Victor says, "I was doomed." In what way — what does he mean? Would such a remark as Brother Murray's be countenanced today? Why were they ignored or brushed off back then?
6. The tricks of memory, its unreliability, is one of the novel's themes. How does does memory both protect Victor and play tricks on him in this story? Have your own memories ever played tricks on you?
7. Did the novel's ending take you by surprise, perhaps shock, even disorient, you? What were your initial expectations?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Smile (Doyle) - Discussion Questions
Article Index
Page 4 of 4