Discussion Questions
Questions have not yet been issued by the publisher... so use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Welcome to Night Vale...then take off on your own:
1. These are are the choices—take your pick: This American Life meets Alice in Wonderland ... or Twiight Zone meets Twin Peaks ... or Neil Gaiman/Stephen King meets Lake Woebegon. Seriously. How would you describe Night Vale. (Have some fun.)
2. Since you've chosen to read this book, very likely you're already a fan of the Welcome to Night Vale podcast. How does the novel stack up against the audio show? If you haven't listened to the podcast series (you haven't?... Seriously...?), did you feel like a small ball in tall weeds, utterly lost? Or did you find the novel easy to follow?
3. In their podcast, and now in their novel, Fink and Cranor have created a self-contained world all unto itself. Describe that world—its weirdness, even scariness, its humor and downright absurdity. What made you laugh out loud: the toxic librarians, maybe...or the local paper editor who hatchets bloggers?
4. The writing about Danny is particulary charming. Danny is a shape-shifter; how does that trait play into adolescence angst when it comes to self-identity, attractiveness, and likeability?
5. What about Jackie and Diane? Are they well-developed as characters? Do you develop sympathy Talk about them individually and as a duo when the two decide, grudgingly, to work together.
6. And then there's Cecil and his radio show. Both Diane and Jackie find comfort in his radio show. How does he move the plot along? And as you discuss this, do not—absolutely do not—mention (or touch) the flamingos.
7. Were you surprised (creeped out?) toward the end of the book with its revelations about the nature of the town and its residents?
8. Talk about the ways in which Welcome to Night Vale uses—and satirizes—cosmic horror. Here's a good description of the genre, perfected by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), from an article in the UK's Guardian:
Alien horrors break through the thin delusion we call human perception with nasty results.... Cosmic horror is the realm not only of the unspoken, but the unspeakable; not only the invisible, but that which we refuse to see. It works by drawing out our unspoken anxieties and giving them monstrous form.
(Questions by LitLovers. Feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks..)