The Secrets of Midwives
Sally Hepworth, 2015
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250051912
Summary
Three generations of women … Secrets in the present and from the past … A captivating tale of life, loss, and love…
Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy—including the identity of the baby’s father— hidden from her family and co-workers for as long as possible.
Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest. The more Grace prods, the tighter Neva holds to her story, and the more the lifelong differences between private, quiet Neva and open, gregarious Grace strain their relationship.
For Floss, Neva’s grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva’s situation thrusts her back sixty years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter’s—one which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all.
As Neva’s pregnancy progresses and speculation makes it harder and harder to conceal the truth, Floss wonders if hiding her own truth is ultimately more harmful than telling it.
Will these women reveal their secrets and deal with the inevitable consequences? Or are some secrets best kept hidden? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 10, 1980
• Where—Australia
• Education—Monash University
• Currently—lives in Melbourne, Australia
Sally Hepworth is a former Event Planner and HR professional. A graduate of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, she started writing novels after the birth of her first child.
She is the author of Love Like The French (2014, published in Germany). The Secret of Midwives (2015), The Things We Keep (2016), and The Family Next Door (2018).
Sally has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the U.K., and Canada, and she now writes full-time from her home in Melbourne, Australia, where she lives with her husband and two children. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Big in-house excitement will help along this tale of three generations of midwives by Australian author Hepworth. Midwife Neva Bradley refuses to reveal the details of her own pregnancy, which unsettles her mother, Grace, while reminding grandmother Floss of her own situation 60 years previously. And Floss has her own secret that she doesn't want revealed.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Grace’s response to Neva’s refusal to reveal the identity of her baby’s father is complex: "Despite my shock and frustration, a pleasant surge of adrenaline rushed through me…Neva was rebelling. And despite my desperation to know the parentage of my grandchild-‐to-‐be, I was excited." What does Grace mean by this? Why does she feel this why? How do we see the relationship between Grace and Neva change as the story progresses?
2) As Floss tells the story that she has been hiding bit by bit throughout the novel did you have any guesses as to what the secret would ultimately be? How did your predictions change as the story was revealed? Did the truth surprise you, or were you able to figure it out?
3) Did you have any guesses as to who the father of Neva’s baby was? Were you surprised when he was finally revealed?
4) Reflect on the structure of the novel. How does having all three women’s viewpoints give us a complex, richer picture of the women’s individual stories? How do Floss’s flashbacks to her past give us insight into their present situation?
5. We are able to observe as Grace weighs her options for how to proceed during the homebirth that results in her suspension. Do you think she did the right thing during the birth? What would you have done in her position? Did your opinion of what she did remain the same or change after the conversation she has with the investigator from the Board of Nursing?
6) What did you think of Grace’s decision to continue to deliver babies secretly during her suspension? What was your response to Robert’s reaction when he found out?
7) Grace expresses strong views on the differences between delivering a baby in a hospital versus in a birthing center versus at home. What are the differences? What are her arguments for homebirth? Do you agree or disagree with her?
8) Did you learn anything new about midwifery, birthing, or pregnancy in general while reading this novel? What surprised you most about the birthing scenes?
9) When Neva watches Grace hold Mietta as they are about to leave the hospital she observes that, "They were connected by so much more than a gaze. I would have said it was a biological pull, but now, thinking of Gran, I wasn’t so sure." In your opinion, what is it that defines a family? What creates a familial bond?
10) Throughout the novel we see characters forced to confront unexpected situations and grapple with how to handle and react to them, knowing that their reactions will not only greatly affect themselves but the other people involved. Put yourself in the position of different characters such as Mark, Imogen, Patrick, Sean, Floss, and Neva. How would you react if you were faced with their situations? Were there certain characters that you felt especially sympathetic towards? Were there others with whom you disagreed?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Every Day Is for the Thief
Teju Cole, 2014
Random House
176 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812985856
Summary
For readers of J. M. Coetzee and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Every Day Is for the Thief is Teju Cole’s second novel, following his critically acclaimed debut, Open City—winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and named one of the best books of the year by more than twenty publications.
Fifteen years is a long time to be away from home. It feels longer still because I left under a cloud.
A young Nigerian living in New York City goes home to Lagos for a short visit, finding a city both familiar and strange. In a city dense with story, the unnamed narrator moves through a mosaic of life, hoping to find inspiration for his own. He witnesses the "yahoo yahoo" diligently perpetrating email frauds from an Internet cafe, longs after a mysterious woman reading on a public bus who disembarks and disappears into a bookless crowd, and recalls the tragic fate of an eleven-year-old boy accused of stealing at a local market.
Along the way, the man reconnects with old friends, a former girlfriend, and extended family, taps into the energies of Lagos life—creative, malevolent, ambiguous—and slowly begins to reconcile the profound changes that have taken place in his country and the truth about himself.
In spare, precise prose that sees humanity everywhere, interwoven with original photos by the author, Every Day Is for the Thief is a wholly original amalgamation of fiction, memory, art, and travel writing.
Originally published in Nigeria in 2007, this revised and updated edition is the first time this unique book has been available outside Africa. You've never read a book like Every Day Is for the Thief because no one writes like Teju Cole. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 27, 1975
• Where—U.S.
• Raised—Nigeria
• Education—B.A., Kalamazoo College; M.A., University of London; M.Phil.,
Columbia University
• Awards—Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award; International Literature
Award (for the German transl.)
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American writer, photographer, and art historian, best known for his 2011 novel, Open City. For that work, Cole won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.
Biography and work
Cole was born in the United States to Nigerian parents, raised in Nigeria, and moved back to the United States at the age of 17. He received his Bachelor's from Kalamazoo College, an M.A. from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and his M.Phil. from Columbia University.
He is the author of Every Day is for the Thief, a novella published in 2007 in Nigeria and in 2014 in the U.S. His anovel, Open City was published in 2011.
Cole lives in Brooklyn, New York City, and is currently the Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College. He is also writer in residence of the Literaturhaus Zurich from June to November, 2014. Cole is a regular contributor to publications including the New York Times, Qarrtsiluni, Granta, New Yorker, Transition, New Inquiry, and A Public Space. He is currently at work on a book-length non-fiction narrative of Lagos, and on "Small Fates." (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/16/2014.)
Book Reviews
[A] book of taut peregrinations…Mr. Cole's novels assume the shape of travel writing, and they are sly commentaries on the genre. They are also dense with travel writing's pleasures, with sharp, sudden observation…his novels are lean, expertly sustained performances. The places he can go, you feel, are just about limitless. The story [Cole] tells here is just about the most primal one, "an inquiry into what it was I longed for all those times I longed for home.
New York Times - Dwight Garner
Cole constructs a narrative of fragments, a series of episodes that he allows to resonate, interspersing them with photographs. A less stylish writer would have become bogged down by the demands of narrative, spelling out the narrator's relationships with his family and friends in a way that Every Day Is for the Thief deftly avoids. Cole places his narrator in fleeting situations where the fault lines in his identity are most likely to crack open.
New York Times Book Review - Hari Kunzru
[Teju] Cole is following in a long tradition of writerly walkers who, in the tradition of Baudelaire, make their way through urban spaces on foot and take their time doing so. Like Alfred Kazin, Joseph Mitchell, J. M. Coetzee, and W. G. Sebald (with whom he is often compared), Cole adds to the literature in his own zeitgeisty fashion.
Boston Globe
[A] tightly focused but still marvelously capacious little novel...built with cool originality.... The house of literature [Cole] is busy creating is an in-between space with fluid dimensions, resisting entrenchment.
Christian Science Monitor
very Day Is for the Thief holds something for people with all levels of familiarity with Nigeria. It is an introduction and a provocation, a beautifully simple portrait and a nuanced examination. It invites you to steal a glimpse of Lagos.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A worthy precursor and, in a way, a companion piece to Cole’s highly acclaimed Open City.... Cole’s narrator is compelling—someone with whom you want to spend time ambling, looking and chatting. I was happy to be along for the journey.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Omnivorous and mesmerizing.... [I]t is a pleasure to be in [the narrator’s] company.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Beautifully written.... The Lagos presented here teems with stories.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A luminous rumination on storytelling and place, exile and return.... [E]xtraordinary.
San Francisco Chronicle
Direct and bracing, a short, sharp counterpunch to those who seek to romanticise Africa.
Telegraph (UK)
Rich imagery and sharp prose...widely praised as one of the best fictional depictions of Africa in recent memory.
New Yorker
very Day Is for the Thief is unapologetically a novel of ideas: a diagnosis of the systemic corruption in Cole’s native Lagos and of corruption’s psychological effects. But, remarkably, the book avoids any of the chunkiness that usually accompanies such work. Emotional and intellectual life are woven too tightly together. The ideas make the character and vice versa.
New Republic
Every Day Is for the Thief is a testament to [Nigeria’s] power to inspire.
Vanity Fair
Excellently crafted.... Optimism regarding the future of [Nigeria] pulsates steadily . . . through [Every Day Is for the Thief].
Huffington Post
[Cole] revels in ambiguity, taking inspiration from authors who have toyed with what a novel can be, like W. G. Sebald, J. M. Coetzee and V. S. Naipaul.... There is a touch of Alfred Kazin and Joseph Mitchell—two of the most observant walkers in [New York City’s] history—in his books’ open-eyed flaneurs.
New York Observer
This pared-down writing style comes at the cost of character development.... The structure is loose, a collection of observances of daily life in Lagos in which Cole presents the complexities of culture and poverty....but it's his willingness to explore so many uncomfortable paradoxes that sears this narrative into our brains.
Publishers Weekly
After living in America for 15 years, a Nigerian writer returns to his homeland. Reunited with a beloved aunt, with whom he stays, he reconnects with a boyhood friend, now a struggling doctor, and visits the woman who was his first love, now married with a daughter, as he contemplates staying in Lagos. But he is struck by the omnipresent corruption, as officials at all levels, including police and soldiers, supplement often meager wages with bribes. He sees thieving “area boys” all around, Internet-scamming “yahoo yahoo” in cyber cafes, a jazz shop practicing piracy, and a national museum gone to ruin, its artifacts ill-maintained and its historical presentations inaccurate. Yet in addition to scoring high in corruption, Nigeria’s claim to fame is that it is the most religious country in the world and its people the happiest. This novella, a revised version of the first book written by Nigerian Cole, author of the acclaimed Open City (2011), is a scathing but loving look at his native land in measured, polished prose. —Michele Leber
Booklist
A Nigerian living in the U.S. finds corruption, delight and ghosts on a return visit to Lagos in this rich, rougher-edged predecessor to Cole's celebrated debut novel (Open City, 2011). First published in Nigeria in 2007, this novella records the unnamed narrator's impressions of the city he left 13 years earlier. His observations range from comic to bitterly critical, playing off memories of growing up in Lagos and his life abroad. Cole paints brisk scenes that convey the dangers and allure of the "gigantic metropolis" in prose that varies from plain to almost poetic to overwrought. The narrator says a woman holding a book by Michael Ondaatje "makes my heart leap up into my mouth and thrash about like a catfish in a bucket." Bribe-hungry police, a vibrant street market, perilous bus rides, brazen home invaders: From the locally commonplace emerge sharp contrasts with the West. Coming to the market, for instance, he recalls an 11-year-old boy burned alive for petty theft. In the city's many new Internet cafes, a "sign of the newly vital Nigerian economy," teens write emails to perpetrate the "advance fee fraud" for which the country has become infamous. The returnee laments the dilapidation and skewed historical record of the National Museum before admiring the world-class facilities of the Musical Society of Nigeria Centre. It's a graphic contrast that billboards questions bedeviling the narrator: Why did I leave? Should I return for good? What have I gained? Or lost? Such an exile's catechism could serve with slight variations the many displaced people Cole writes of in the "open city" of New York. And as with the novel, the influence of W.G. Sebald arises again here, not least in Cole's addition of photographs that are much like the novella's prose: uneven yet often evocative.
Kirkus Reviews
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, use these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Every Day Is for the Thief:
1. The narrator finds on his return to Nigeria that to survive in his country, one must have "the will to be violent, a will that has to be available when it is called for." What does he witness that prompts him to make such an observation? Talk about what it means to live with the potential for violence and how it affects the human soul...and the collective "soul" of the nation's culture.
2. Cole derives the title of his book from the Yoruban proverb,"Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner." Why does he use the proverb as the title of his book...and why only the first part?
3. When he comes upon the scammers in the internet cafe, the narrator believes that the swindled and swindler deserve one another. Why does he feel that way...and do you agree or disagree? In what way are the yahoo-yahoos indicative of the Nigerian culture?
4. In what way, is Nigeria, as the narrator says, "a hostile environment for the life of the mind"? How important are debates and "contradictory voices" to intellectual vibrancy?
5. After a dispiriting visit to the National Museum, the narrator wonders what the "social consequences [are] of life in a country that has no use for history." How important is an understanding of history? And whose history gets told? Do U.S. citizens have an understanding of their national history?
6. How would you describe daily life in Lagos—its culture, poverty, and corruption?
7. Talk about whether or not Cole's pared down writing style and episodic structure lessens the novel's ability to flesh out its characters. Are any of his characters fully developed? Or is character exploration not his purpose?
8. What affect do the photos have on your reading of this novel? Why does Cole use them? Does he over-rely on the photos? Do they enhance or detract from his narrative?
9. The narrator tells us that this story is "an inquiry into what it was I longed for all those times I longed for home," which brings to mind the Thomas Wolfe title "You Can't Go Home Again." Does the narrator find what he has longed for? What has he found...or not found?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Wilful Murder (Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy, 2)
Celia Conrad, 2011
Barcham Books
332 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780954623333
Summary
The second mystery in the Alicia Allen Investigates trilogy lures the justice-loving solicitor out of London and into the shadowy depths of the Land Down Under where nothing is what it seems and a risky Trust could lead to murder.
When an Australian-born heiress living in London asks Alicia Allen to draw up a Will in expectation of her forthcoming marriage and impending English fortune, she reveals that her family members have been meeting untimely deaths.
After her fiance is killed in an explosion, and her own life is threatened, she implores Alicia to investigate. Alicia soon finds herself hot on the trail of a psychopathic killer who could be responsible for the deaths and near-deaths that continue to occur in London and Australia—or are there two psychopaths working in tandem?
Alicia's quest takes her to Australia—coinciding with an Australian friend's wedding in Brisbane where Alicia's old flame Alex Waterford has also been invited. Alex, a London lawyer now working in Singapore for a British firm, confesses his love for Alicia, but events conspire to make the pursuit of justice more important than personal desires, and the duo join forces to solve the crimes.
Putting questions of love on the back burner, they put their own lives on the line as they search for the answer to the murderous mystery that lies just beneath the misleadingly placid surfaces of Probate, Wills and a Trust. (From the publisher.)
This is the second book in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy. A Model Murder (2011) is the first, and Murder in Hand is the third.
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—London, England, UK
• Education—J.D., University of London
• Currently—lives in West London, England
Celia Conrad is a British author who shares similarities with the heroine of her Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy in her own Anglo-Italian heritage and solicitor experience (aka "lawyer" in the U.S.). Together they share an enthusiasm for crime solving, Shakespeare, All Things Italian and, of course, Pringles. A Model Murder was her debut novel, written at the suggestion of a mentor who encouraged her to write mysteries based on real-life stories she has encountered while working within the law. She followed it with Wilful Murder and Murder in Hand, Books 2 and 3, respectively in the Alicia Allen Investigates series. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Celia on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Celia Conrad has composed a pastiche of cozy-cerebral murder mystery “must haves” plus a fresh blend of Travelogue, Greek Tragedy, Shakespeare and Love Story.
Dancing in the Experience Lane Book Reviews Blog
Alicia Allen in Australia may seem a cuddly, fluffy, Pringle-crunching koala, but when needed she can show both class and claws! Conrad sets any number of teasing possible outcomes in motion, and reserving some daring bait-and-switch manoeuvres for the final chapters. For much of the novel Alicia is in Australia while many of the key plot developments take place in England...yet the pace never slackens.
Ophideide, Amazon U.K. customer review
Discussion Questions
1. What is your opinion of the bitter family feuds and inheritance issues as they are depicted in Wilful Murder?
2. In what ways can you relate to the concept of hostile and greedy relatives and toxic family ties?
3. Since Wilful Murder is Book 2 of the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy, did it strike you as a “stand-alone” mystery tale, or would you suggest readers read Book 1, A Model Murder, first? What is the reason for your answer?
4. What do you see as Alicia Allen’s strengths and weaknesses as a lawyer/detective?
5. Do you agree with Alex that Alicia’s feeling of obligation to do the best for her clients goes too far sometimes?
6. What do you think about Alicia’s on/off relationship with Alex? Why do you think Alicia pushes him away when it is evident she is so attracted to him?
7. How does Alicia compare with the other female characters? What did you think about her relationships with other women in the story?
8. What’s your reaction to how Alicia handles authority figures?
9. How do you feel about the action that leads up to Drew’s murder? Did it surprise you? How did you think the story was going to develop?
10. How did you feel about Alicia’s heiress-client Isabelle, and what happens to her? Did you feel sympathy or empathy for her at the beginning? Did those feelings change? If so, how?
11. How did you feel about the way the “backstory” (past events told by various characters) was presented? Did it slow the action down, confuse you, or make you curious to learn more?
12. Most of the violent scenes are not shown to the reader. News of the deaths or “accidents” are relayed by “messenger.” How did you feel about this?
13. In what ways did the action being set in London and Australia (with murders taking place across different time zones and locations) help or hurt your enjoyment of this story?
14. What was your reaction when the identity of the murderer was revealed? What, if any, clues were you able to spot?
15. What role, if any, do you feel Fate plays in the story?
16. How do you feel about the way language and culture is portrayed? Did you learn anything new about Italian or Australian culture? If you are American, did you learn anything new about British and Australian language or food?
17. If you have read A Model Murder (Book 1), how did you feel about some characters in that book not reappearing or playing a bigger role in Wilful Murder (Book 2)? Please discuss why you were or were not disappointed?
18. Which characters would you like to see return to Book 3 (Murder in Hand)? If you have read A Model Murder, are there any characters there that you would like to reappear in the last book of the Trilogy?
19. Regarding Alicia and Alex’s on again/off again relationship, were you as interested in what happens with them romantically as you were in their solving the crime crime together? Why or why not?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Current
Yannick Thoraval, 2014
Furber
252 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780992591601
Summary
The island is sinking. No doubt.
When the president of a sinking tropical island calls on the world’s most ingenious entrepreneurs to help save his people, Peter Van Dooren answers the call.
Van Dooren’s wealth and prestige mean that his family wants for nothing – except a husband and a father.
As an engineer, Van Dooren believes his idea can not only save the island and its people’s way of life. It could also transform ideas about culture and nations. After all, changing the world is what Peter Van Dooren really wants. But playing God may cost Van Dooren his fortune and his own family.
While Van Dooren plots a world away, his wife, son and daughter sink deeper into their own personal abyss of retail therapy, amateur pornography and religious extremism. Everyone is adrift on the same tide of greed, lust and fear. This is the current that shapes the world. It always has; it always will. Is anyone strong enough to resist it?
Commended by judges of the prestigious Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, The Current is the story of a man's obsession with overcoming the forces of nature. At all costs. It is a story about culture and nations and how to find one’s place in the world.
Ironic and slyly, bleakly humorous, The Current shows us how our modern affluence buys us material comfort at the expense of a sense of purpose in our lives. It is a hopeful story about finding meaning in our relationships and strength through our community. It asks us to rekindle our relationship with nature. The novel is reminiscent of the film Network, re-imagined for the 21st century.
The style of writing is literary (thoughtful but humorous), and will appeal to readers of Jonathan Franzen (particularly Freedom) and Michel Houellebecq (particularly Platform). Stylistically, The Current offers readers a back and forth split storyline and portent of danger comparable to Paul Thomas Anderson's film, Magnolia (1999).
Author Bio
• Birth— September 21, 1976
• Where—Holland, raised in Cyprus, Canada, and Australia
• Education—B.A., University of British Columbia; M.A., University of Melbourne
• Currently—lives in Melbourne, Australia
Yannick Thoraval is an author and university lecturer.
Best known as an essayist, Thoraval has published widely for both academic and general audiences.
He formally studied film, philosophy and American political history, attaining a Master’s degree from the University of Melbourne before leaving academia to pursue commercial writing interests. He worked as a copywriter in marketing and communications and as a speechwriter for the Victorian State Government.
Thoraval’s fiction has received critical acclaim. His first screenplay, Kleftiko, was a finalist in the International Showcase Screenwriting Awards. Judges of the prestigious Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Australia, highly commended his first novel, The Current.
The novel draws from Thoraval’s personal and professional experiences of working in government, particularly his work in international development, including with the nation of Timor-Leste.
He is a career migrant and has lived in the Netherlands, France, Cyprus, Canada, and Australia. Moving internationally from a young age has left him feeling culturally stateless, despite holding three passports.
Thoraval is a quiet advocate for refugees and asylum seekers. He is a founding member of the World Writings Group, which helps refugees write about their experiences of forced migration.
He has pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds of his book to assist the settlement of asylum seekers and refugees.
He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he teaches professional writing and editing at RMIT University. He is working on his second novel. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Yannick on Facebook.
Book Reviews
A contemporary novel that captures the moral complexity of climate change.
Time Out Magazine (Australia)
Discussion Questions
1. The Current is set against a backdrop of rising sea levels. To what extent is this a novel about global climate change? What, if anything, does the author have to say about climate change?
2. What is "The Current," and how does this central metaphor influence the novel’s themes and characters?
3. How do the themes of nature versus nurture, science versus religion play out in novel?
4. Religion plays an important part of the novel’s narrative structure. Christian themes, in particular, reverberate throughout the novel. To what extent is this a religious or Christian story?
5. L’Eden Sur Mer is French for Eden on the Sea. Is the island an Eden?
6. Why does the international community turn its back on the Republic of L’Eden Sur Mer?
7. What is the perspective of world leaders (for example within United Nations) on L’Eden Sur Mer? To what extent is their view comparable to the perspective of the Van Dooren family?
8. What is the role of nature in The Current?
9. How does the novel treat the relationship between parents and their children?
10. What is the role of fathers in the novel?
11. What role does technology play in The Current?
12. How is Gaia Enterprises implicated in L’Eden Sur Mer’s dilemma? To what extent is Stephen complicit in the company’s wrong-doing? Is Stephen a victim only? What were his motivations for working at Gaia?
13. How do Alma’s shopping habits reflect her personal issues and how does her shopping relate to the broader themes explored in the book?
14. What is the significance of Alma’s workplace?
15. The characters are flawed. What are their flaws and how did their character affect your experience of the novel?
16. Is there a hero in this story?
17. Alma is deeply affected by her experiences of migration. To what extent is The Current a novel about the migrant experience?
18. What is the significance of the novel’s dedication? What does this dedication add to your reading and understanding of the story?
19. How does the novel distinguish between the idea of a home versus a homeland? How is this distinction important to Alma? To President Koyl?
20. What is a community according to the author?
21. How and why are the islanders divided on how to approach their predicament?
22. How is the Van Dooren family connected to the island of L’Eden Sur Mer?
23. What are some of the similarities and differences between the personalities of the Van Dooren family? How do the characters’ personal experiences inform their worldview?
24. What motivates the members of the Van Dooren family to behave as they do?
25. How would you describe Peter’s relationship with nature? Why has he adopted this position?
26. What does Peter really want to achieve? Why?
27. How does Tal respond to the Van Dooren family’s wealth? Is affluence itself problematic in The Current.
28. Gracie claims to be a Christian. Is she?
29. To what extent is Gracie responsible for the difficulties she experiences?
30. How does Stephen’s addiction to internet pornography inform his relationship with women? How does this relationship change over the course of the novel?
31. How does Peter change over the course of the novel? What factors contribute to this change?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Rent Collector
Camron Wright, 2012
Shadow Mountain Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781609077051
Summary
Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia.
They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working.
Just when things seem worst, Sang Ly learns a secret about the ill-tempered woman they call "the rent collector" who comes demanding money—a secret that dates back to the Khmer Rouge and sets in motion a tide that will change the life of everyone it sweeps past.
The Rent Collector powerfully illustrates how literacy can change lives and how anyone can "rise from the ashes" in the most unlikely of places. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• Education—M.A., Westminster College
• Awards—Best Novel, Whitney Award; Book of the Year, ForeWord Review Magazine
• Currently—lives south of Salt Lake City
Camron Wright was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has a master’s degree in Writing and Public Relations from Westminster College.
He has owned several successful retail stores, in addition to working with his wife in the fashion industry, designing for the McCall Pattern Company in New York.
He currently works in public relations, marketing and design.
Camron began writing to get out of attending MBA School at the time and it proved the better decision. Letters for Emily was a “Readers Choice” award winner, as well as a selection of the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. In addition to North America, Letters for Emily was published in several foreign countries.
Camron lives with his wife, Alicyn, in Utah, just south of Salt Lake City, at the base of the Wasatch mountains. He is the proud father of four children. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
A beautifully told story about the perseverance of the human spirit and the importance of standing up for what is right.
Booklist
Through Sang Ly and the rent collector, readers will discover a wealth of insights: the lingering ravages of war, the common bonds of humanity, and the uplifting power of literature.
School Library Journal
The written word offers hope for a brighter future in Wright's fact-based new novel.... The miseries of the dump...are interwoven throughout the story, but...the peripheral chaos overwhelms and dilutes the core plot. Like Stung Meanchey, Wright's book sometimes shimmers, but there's a lot to sift through to get to the goods.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
1. In the opening pages of The Rent Collector, Sang Ly’s grandfather promises that it will be a very lucky day. What role do you think luck plays in our lives? How does the idea of luck reconcile with the novel’s epigraph, the quote from Buddha on the opening page?
2. After reading Sarann (the Cambodian Cinderella), Sopeap and Sang Ly discuss how story plots repeat, reinforcing the same lessons. Sopeap calls resurfacing plots “perplexing” and then asks, “Is our DNA to blame for this inherent desire to hope? Is it simply another survival mechanism? Is that why we love Sarann or Cinderella? Or is there more to it?” How would you answer? What are possible explanations for the phenomenon?
3. Sang Ly says that living at the dump is a life where “the hope of tomorrow is traded to satisfy the hunger of today.” How might this statement also apply to those with modern homes, late-model cars, plentiful food, and general material abundance?
4. Sang Ly mentions that Lucky Fat has an “uncanny knack of finding money lost amongst the garbage.” Do you suppose someone may have been helping him by placing money for him to find? If so, who?
5. Speaking of her clock, Sang Ly says, “Sometimes broken things deserve to be repaired.” What might she be referring to more than the clock?
6. The shelters at Stung Meanchey are built to protect the resting pickers from the sun. What other purposes do they serve? What “shelters” do we build in our own lives? How would you react if the “shelters” in your life were constantly being torn down?
7. At first, Ki is reluctant to welcome change, specifically to see Sang Ly learn to read. He says, “I know that we don’t have a lot here, but at least we know where we stand.” What do you think he means? When have you found it hard to accept change?
8. Sopeap tells Sang Ly: “To understand literature, you read it with your head, but you interpret it with your heart. The two are forced to work together—and, quite frankly, they often don’t get along.” Do you agree? Can you think of examples?
9. Koah Kchol, or scraping, is an ancient remedy Sang Ly says has been practiced in her family for generations. Do you have your own family remedies that have been passed down? What are they, and do they work?
10. Sang Ly and Sopeap discuss dreams. Have you ever had a dream that changed your attitude, decisions, or outlook? Was it a subconscious occurrence or something more?
11. In a moment of reflection, Sang Ly admits that she doesn’t mean to be a skeptic, to lack hope, or to harbor fear. However, she notes that experience has been her diligent teacher. She asks, “Grandfather, where is the balance between humbly accepting our life’s trials and pleading toward heaven for help, begging for a better tomorrow?” How would you answer her question?
12. Sang Ly speaks often to her deceased grandfather, but not to her father, until after her meeting with the Healer. Why did her attitude change? How might the same principle apply to relationships in our own lives?
13. Sopeap always wears thick brown socks, no matter the weather. As Sopeap lies dying, Sang Ly notices that the socks have slipped, exposing scars on Sopeap’s ankles. How would you presume Sopeap got these scars? How might Sopeap’s scars (or rather their source) have influenced her appreciation for the story of the rising Phoenix? In what ways does Sopeap rise from her own ashes, literally and figuratively?
14. The story ends with Sang Ly retelling the myth of Vadavamukha and the coming of Sopeap to Stung Meanchey. By the time you reached the final version in the book’s closing pages, had you remembered the original version in the book’s opening pages? How had the myth changed? How had Sopeap changed? How had Sang Ly changed?
15. When the story closes, Sang Ly and her family are still living at Stung Meanchey. Are you satisfied with the ending, that they remain at the dump? Why or why not?
Additional Questions
1. Lucky Fat is generally cheerful. In fact, most of the people who actually work and live at Stung Meanchey are happy, despite the fact they are only “earning enough money to buy food on the very day they eat it.” If you had to move to the dump today, could you be happy in your circumstance? Explain why or why not.
2. Sopeap warns Sang Ly: “Life at the dump has limitations, but it serves a plate of predictability. Stung Meanchey offers boundaries. There are dangers, but they are understood, accepted, and managed. When we step out of that world, we enter an area of unknown.” What boundaries do we accept or create for ourselves? In reply, Sang Ly says, “I’m just talking about literature.” Sopeap responds, “And so am I.” What do you suppose Sopeap is trying to imply? What might literature represent?
3. When returning from the province, Sang Ly declares, “Home. I let the word ring in my head. Stung Meanchey—a dirty, smelly, despicable place where our only possessions can be carried in two hands. ‘Yes,’ I confirm, ‘we are home.’” Contrast this with her declaration that for Sopeap, “the dump was never her home—no matter how hard she tried to make it so.” Why the difference? Where is home for you and why?
4. Sopeap’s last name is Sin. Do you think this was intentional by the author? If so, what are the implications and what parallels might be drawn?
5. Sitting beside Sopeap on the garden roof, Sang Ly says, “As the clouds close in, an evening rain begins to fall. The drops are large, like elephant tears, and as they smack the floor, they break into tiny beads that dance and play across the tiles.” How is the rain symbolic? What other symbolism did you notice?
(Questions from the author's website.)