Thousand Pardons (Dee) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Helen believes abjection and confession are transformative. But why doesn’t Ben’s abject apology toward the beginning of the book work on Helen? Does he need to atone as well as apologize?

2. Describe the public relations environment in which Helen finds herself. As a sincere person, how does she conform to the environment...or does it conform to her?

3. The collection of clients needing the help of Helen and particularly Malloy Worldwide is a pretty nasty group. Why does Helen not hesitate to help bad guys? Does she think everyone is redeemable? Are her lack of judgment and her sympathy part of what makes her special?

4. Why are the stories of powerful people brought low so compelling? Has the ritual of public apology become a way for the culture to remind itself of how we define “good” behavior? Or is it just an opportunity for hypocrisy and schadenfreude?

 4. In A Thousand Pardons, some of the characters want a break from the past and the accountability that comes with contemplating the past. But Helen remembers everything, and certainly confessing and apologizing are acts of remembering. Do you see a connection between memory and morality? Is willful amnesia an American problem?

5. Helen’s gift reaches its limit with the Catholic Church. Has she finally lost interest in absolving powerful men?

6. The narrator encourages readers to have an intimacy with the book's characters. At the same time there is a sort of pulling back on the the narrator's part, a restraint from passing judgment Do you believe the characters should be judged? As a reader, do you judge them?

7. At various points after the scandal, Sara, Ben, and Helen lurk around their Westchester town trying not to be recognized. Yet in the end they return to their house there. Shouldn't they just leave and start over somewhere else? Why don't they?

8. The book, though basically serious, contains a lot of dry wit, sly humor, and many moments of sharp irony. There are even some elements of screwball comedy. Is it wrong to call it a funny book?

9. What does Ben mean when he says that he is “almost comfortable” in his disgrace, that he likes the “sad, clear vision” he has?

10. Ben’s journey takes him from a despised life of upper class security to abjection to something close to integrity. His storyline does not go the way the reader expects, partly because he refuses to let himself off the hook for what he did. Has he redeemed himself by the end?

11. The ending of the novel is somewhat open, and, like the rest of the book, it happens quickly. Can you imagine what happens next to Helen, Ben, and Sara?
(LitLovers adapted these questions from a publisher interview with the author.)

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