The Wedding Date
Jasmine Guillory, 2018
Penguin Publishing
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399587665
Summary
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in this fun and flirty multicultural romance debut by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.
On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend.
After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...
They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century—or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1976 (?)
• Raised—Berkeley, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Wellesley College; J.D., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Oakland, California
Jasmine Guillory is an American lawyer and author. Her novels include The Wedding Date, published early in 2018, followed by The Proposal in the fall of the same year. Both books became bestsellers.
Raised in Berkeley, California, Guillory was ingrained early on with a passion for politics, especially after watching the 1991 Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill Congressional hearings. She was further inspired by a beloved seventh-grade teacher, only ten years her senior, who left teaching to pursue a law degree. Her teacher's decision solidified Guillory's own career dreams.
After college and law school, Guillory practiced law for eight years. Yet, as she recounted to Catapult, she found she wanted something more:
After I’d been a lawyer for about eight years, I found myself longing for some sort of creative outlet. The repetitive, structured, spreadsheet-oriented nature of my work often made me feel stifled.
And so Guillory turned to writing fiction, even though she had never considered herself a writer, let alone an author—people whom she had always thought of as solitary and lonely. But Guillory loved to read, (according to family legend, she was reading at the early age of three), so she decided to try her hand at novel writing.
Guillory knew the kind of novels she wanted to write: stories about smart young black girls living in a city. To prepare herself, Guillory spent a year or more reading books about writing and reading novels to suss out the methods of character and plot development. Eventually, once her writing muscles felt strong enough, she put them to work on a romance novel, the novel we know as The Wedding Date. (Adapted from online sources, including Catapult. Retrieved 11/28/2018.)
Book Reviews
Guillory’s debut is as enchanting as her characters — bright, bold, warm and wonderful. Even better, there’s a proposal to rival any commercial that Madison Avenue can deliver.
WashingtonPost.com
The novel is a light-hearted and quick read with fully drawn characters.
Associated Press
This novel reads like a truly contemporary contemporary romance in that the hero and heroine grapple with issues anyone dating today will relate to.
NPR.com
A swoony rom-com brimming with humor and charm.
Entertainment Weekly
Kudos to Guillory, whose lively dialogue is matched by her multifaceted characters.
Essence Magazine
A romance novel that will make you believe in happily ever afters.
Nylon.com
There are some awkward, sweet, and sexy moments …[but] complications aren’t developed, and… [m]undane details and stilted dialogue add little complexity to the plot or characters …in spite of some sensual episodes.
Publishers Weekly
The writing is fast-paced… The two leads are charming, and… the characters never find a situation that doesn't turn them on at least a little bit. Guillory's debut is a mix of romance and raunch that will charm rom-com fans.
Kirkus Reviews
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 THE WEDDING DATE… then take off on your own:
1. The best place to start your discussion for The Wedding Date is to talk about Alexa and Drew: do you sympathize with them or dislike them … and why? Why do they make the decisions they do, what motivates them?
2. What were you expectations for the couple over the course of the novel? Did those expectations, or hopes, pan out?
3. What about your own life? Do any of the events or situations in The Wedding Date relate to something that has ever happened (or is happening) to you?
4. A number reviewers have pointed to the sensual, even "raunchy" scenes within the novel. What are your feelings about the way Jasmine Guillory handles sex? How about the Goldilocks principle: too much, too little … just right.
Also, be sure to take a look at our DISCUSSION RESOURCES … they can help with any discussion:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Night of Miracles
Elizabeth Berg, 2018
Random House
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525509509
Summary
A delightful novel of friendship, community, and the way small acts of kindness can change your life, by the bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv
Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy.
Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials.
Her classes have become so popular that she’s hired Iris, a new resident of Mason, Missouri, as an assistant. Iris doesn’t know how to bake but she needs to keep her mind off a big decision she sorely regrets.
When a new family moves in next door and tragedy strikes, Lucille begins to look out for Lincoln, their son. Lincoln’s parents aren’t the only ones in town facing hard choices and uncertain futures.
In these difficult times, the residents of Mason come together and find the true power of community—just when they need it the most.
“Elizabeth Berg’s characters jump right off the page and into your heart” said Fannie Flagg about The Story of Arthur Truluv. The same could be said about Night of Miracles, a heartwarming novel that reminds us that the people we come to love are often the ones we don’t expect. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 2, 1948
• Where—St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
• Education—A.A.S, St. Mary’s College
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois
Before she became a writer, Elizabeth Berg spent 10 years as a nurse. It's a field, as she says on her website, that helped her to become a writer:
Taking care of patients taught me a lot about human nature, about hope and fear and love and loss and regret and triumph and especially about relationships—all things that I tend to focus on in my work.
Her sensitivity to humanity is what Berg's writing is noted for. As Publishers Weekly wrote in reviewing The Dream Lover, her 2015 portrayal of George Sand, "Berg offers vivid, sensual detail and a sensitive portrayal of the yearning and vulnerability" behind her main character.
Background
Berg was born in St. Paul Minneapolis. When her father re-enlisted in the Army, she and her family were moved from base to base—in one single year, she went to three different schools. Her peripatetic childhood makes it hard for Berg to answer the usually simple question, "where did you grow up?"
Berg recalls that she loved to write at a young age. She was only nine when she submitted her first poem to American Girl magazine; sadly, it was rejected. It was another 25 years before she submitted anything again—to Parents Magazine—and that time she won.
In addition to nursing, Berg worked as a waitress, another field she claims is "good training for a writer." She also sang in a rock band.
Writing
Berg ended up writing for magazines for 10 years before she finally turned to novels. Since her 1993 debut with Durable Goods, her books have sold in large numbers and been translated into 27 languages. She writes nearly a book a year, a number of which have received awards and honors.
Recognition
Two of Berg's books, Durable Goods and Joy School, were listed as "Best Books of the Year" by the American Library Association. Open House became an Oprah Book Club Selection.
She won the New England Booksellers Award for her body of work, and Boston Public Library made her a "literary light." She has also been honored by the Chicago Public Library. An article on a cooking school in Italy, for National Geographic Traveler magazine, won an award from the North American Travel Journalists Association.
Personal
Now divorced, Berg was married for over twenty years and has two daughters and three grandchildren. She lives with her dogs and a cat in Chicago. (Author bio adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Mason, Mo., is the enchanting setting for a series of small but life-changing events in Berg’s winning novel (following The Story of Arthur Truluv).… [T]he story moves along at a comfortable pace to a fitting, albeit easy, ending.
Publishers Weekly
Fans of Meg Wolitzer, Emma Straub, or Berg’s previous novels will appreciate the richly complex characters and clear prose. Redemptive without being maudlin, this story of two misfits lucky to have found one another will tug at readers’ heartstrings.
Booklist
Berg's sequel to The Story of Arthur Truluv (2017)…. We long for more substance as Berg touches on, but does not really engage, topics like aging, mortality, and America's obsession with appearance.…Psychological realism sacrificed on the altar of niceness.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What is your idea of a miracle? How do you think the inhabitants of Mason would each answer that question?
2. The author has said that she had specific individuals in mind when she wrote the visitation scenes. Who do you think was Lucille’s angel? Who do you think visited Abby in the hospital?
3. Do you think the small-town charms so prevalent in the Mason, Missouri, books exist in the real world? Have you ever seen the evidence? Would you like to live in a small town like Mason? Why or why not?
4. What do you think of Lucille’s baking classes? What do people learn at Lucille’s classes besides baking tips?
5. Which recipe of Lucille’s would you most like to sample?
6. Night of Miracles, like The Story of Arthur Truluv, features friendships between characters of different ages and backgrounds at the heart of the story. What do Lucille and Lincoln teach each other? What do Lucille and Iris teach each other? How do they help each other?
7. How is Tiny changed by his relationship with Iris? What does he need to learn about himself before accepting himself in a relationship?
8. Who was your favorite character in the book? Why?
9. In your opinion, what is the greatest friendship or love story in Night of Miracles?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Killing Commendatore
Haruki Murakami, 2018
Knopf Doubleday
704 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525520047
Summary
The epic new novel from the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of 1Q84
In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada.
When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances.
To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors.
A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby—Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 12, 1949
• Where—Kyoto, Japan
• Education—Waseda University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives near Tokyo
Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer. Murakami has been translated into 50 languages and his best-selling books have sold millions of copies.
His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, both in Japan and internationally, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2006), while his oeuvre garnered among others the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and the Jerusalem Prize (2009). Murakami's most notable works include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-1995), Kafka on the Shore (2002), and 1Q84 (2009–2010). He has also translated a number of English works into Japanese, from Raymond Carver to J. D. Salinger.
Murakami's fiction, often criticized by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, was influenced by Western writers from Chandler to Vonnegut by way of Brautigan. It is frequently surrealistic and melancholic or fatalistic, marked by a Kafkaesque rendition of the recurrent themes of alienation and loneliness he weaves into his narratives. He is also considered an important figure in postmodern literature. Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievement.
In recent years, Haruki Murakami has often been mentioned as a possible recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Nonetheless, since all nomination records are sealed for 50 years from the awarding of the prize, it is pure speculation. When asked about the possibility of being awarded the Nobel Prize, Murakami responded with a laugh saying "No, I don't want prizes. That means you're finished.
Recognition / Awards
1982 - Noma Literary Prize for A Wild Sheep Chase.
1985 - Tanizaki Prize for Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
1995 - Yomiuri Prize for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
2006 - World Fantasy Award for Kafka on the Shore.
2006 - Franz Kafka Prize
2007 - Kiriyama Prize for Fiction
2007 - honorary doctorate, University of Liege
2008 - honorary doctorate, Princeton University
2009 - Jerusalem Prize
2011 - International Catalunya Prize
2014 - honorary doctorate, Tufts University
Controversy
The Jerusalam Award is presented a biennially to writers whose work deals with themes of human freedom, society, politics, and government. When Murakami won the award in 2009, protests erupted in Japan and elsewhere against his attending the award ceremony in Israel, including threats to boycott his work as a response against Israel's recent bombing of Gaza. Murakami chose to attend the ceremony, but gave a speech to the gathered Israeli dignitaries harshly criticizing Israeli policies. Murakami said, "Each of us possesses a tangible living soul. The system has no such thing. We must not allow the system to exploit us."
Murakami donated his €80,000 winnings from the Generalitat of Catalunya (won in 2011) to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami, and to those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Accepting the award, he said in his speech that the situation at the Fukushima plant was "the second major nuclear disaster that the Japanese people have experienced... however, this time it was not a bomb being dropped upon us, but a mistake committed by our very own hands." According to Murakami, the Japanese people should have rejected nuclear power after having "learned through the sacrifice of the hibakusha just how badly radiation leaves scars on the world and human wellbeing." (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/19/2014.)
Book Reviews
Some novelists hold a mirror up to the world and some, like Haruki Murakami, use the mirror as a portal to a universe hidden beyond it.… He builds his self-contained world deliberately and faithfully, developing intrigue and suspense and even taking care to give each chapter a cliffhanger ending as in an old-fashioned serialized novel.… When you’re under Mr. Murakami’s trance you’re likely to keep flipping the pages.
Wall Street Journal
More of Murakami’s magical mist, but its size, beauty, and concerns with lust and war bring us back to the vividness and scale of his 1997 epic, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
Boston Globe
Eccentric and intriguing, Killing Commendatore is the product of a singular imagination..… Murakami is a wiz at melding the mundane with the surreal.… He has a way of imbuing the supernatural with uncommon urgency. His placid narrative voice belies the utter strangeness of his plot.… The worldview of Murakami’s novels is consistent, and it’s invigorating. In this book and many that came before it, he urges us to embrace the unusual, accept the unpredictable.
San Francisco Chronicle
Wild, thrilling.… Murakami is a master storyteller and he knows how to keep us hooked.
Sunday Times (UK)
Yes, there are mysterious portals, a strange world, a journey and a quest, but these elements are relatively minor in both scale and import in a novel that is more concerned with utterly human concerns, including aging, love, parentage, marriage, and what it means to be both a man and an adult. The fantastic elements are just a part of the narrator’s journey, the meaning and significance of which emerge only gradually for reader and narrator alike.
Toronto Star
[Killing Commendatore] marks the return of a master.
Esquire
No ordinary trip; get ready for a wild ride.
Entertainment Weekly
[A] meticulous yet gripping novel whose escalating surreal tone complements the author’s tight focus on the domestic and the mundane.… Murakami’s sense of humor helps balance the otherworldly and the prosaic, making this a consistently rewarding novel.
Publishers Weekly
While readers are kept guessing at what it all means, Murakami takes his time, slyly amusing us as he goes along. Verdict: Those familiar with the author's inventive writing will certainly devour this, as will readers seeking challenging and thoughtful fiction. —Stephen Schmidt, Greenwich Lib., CT
Library Journal
[A] sprawling epic of art, dislocation, and secrets.… requir[ing] heroic suspension of disbelief on the reader’s part. Altogether bizarre—and pleasingly beguiling, if demanding. Not the book for readers new to Murakami but likely to satisfy longtime fans.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. As a painter, the narrator might be expected to have an increased sense of awareness and perceptivity. Yet more than once in the book it’s implied that he himself is more the subject of his portraits than the subjects are. Keeping in mind the fantastical element of the Commendatore coming to life, who would you say has the most control in this novel: the subject, the artist, or the audience (the one who owns the work)? Contrast the agency of the Commendatore (an "Idea") with the Man in the White Subaru Forester and Mariye (whose painting goes unfinished).
2. Discuss the role of art in the novel—not just painting but also music, such as opera, jazz, and Bruce Springsteen. Consider what the Commendatore says of Thelonius Monk: "What is important is not creating something out of nothing. What my friends need to do is discover the right thing from what is already there" (242). What does painting Mariye help each of them discover about something "already there"?
3. The narrator admits that he "prioritized the ego of the artist—myself—over you, the subject" in his painting of Menshiki (200). To his surprise, Menshiki still loves the painting. What does this tell you about Menshiki’s self-awareness and interdependence on others? How do his behaviors support this idea?
4. Menshiki’s choice to live across the water from his daughter alludes to The Great Gatsby—although this relationship is familial rather than romantic love. If you’ve read The Great Gatsby, in what other ways is that novel echoed in Killing Commendatore? In what ways are the two books similar and different?
5. Komi’s death had a profound impact on the narrator. How has losing her shaped him as a person? What is Komi’s role in the novel? What are some of the connections between Komi and the other women in the narrator’s life—Yuzu, Mariye, his girlfriend, and Muro? What does each of them possess that attracts him to them, including any artistic appeal? What is suggested by the way he responds to losing (or almost losing) them?
6. Discuss Masahiko’s revelation that people’s faces—and perhaps personalities—are not symmetrical. How does this inform the way that portraits are made in the book and the role of Long Face?
7. What is Tomohiko Amada’s role in the novel? Why is the narrator so determined to learn about Amada’s secret past? What does he discover?
8. What other kinds of asymmetries appear in the novel? Consider the juxtaposition of real and fantastical elements in addition to (mis)matches in people, time, and place.
9. Consider the role of obsession in the book. Which characters are more readily drawn into obsessive states of mind? What do they obsess about? How do they act on these feelings? For example, compare the narrator’s obsession with the pit in the woods (and painting it) with Menshiki’s obsession with Mariye.
10. Why does the narrator need to stab the Commendatore? Is their relationship just an expression of the notion that art and life reflect each other, or is it something more complicated? What kind of agency does he gain from doing so?
11. Consider the narrator’s journey along the Path of Metaphor. What does he experience along the way? Why does he embark on this quest and how does it change him?
12. The scene describing Mariye’s hiding in Menhiki’s house hands over some of the storytelling agency to her—the only time the narrator, and his mind, isn’t fully in control of the story. What does this slip into Mariye’s perspective indicate about her relationship with the narrator? Consider how closely he relates her to his younger sister and the need to protect her even from Menshiki himself.
13. Is the novel a love story? How might it meet the traditional definition of "love story," and how does it complicate the notion of love?
14. Why does the narrator get back together with his wife? Do you believe that he could really be Muro’s father?Why or why not?
15. How does the narrator come to realize the boundaries of his own knowledge vis-à-vis Mariye’s portrait and his wife’s child? In his interpretation, is not knowing a fault or a benefit?
16. Describe the nature of reality in this novel. Where do the boundaries fall between dream and waking states, conscious and unconscious actions, and truth versus fantasy? Did the time you spent in the world of this book have an impact on your worldview once you finished?
17. Have you read any other books by Murakami? How were they similar to this novel? How were they different? Are there common themes that tie them yogether?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
A Ladder to the Sky
John Boyne, 2018
Crown/Archetype Books
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781984823014
Summary
Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame.
The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.
Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann.
He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful—but desperately lonely—older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.
Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high.
Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.
Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—April 30, 1971
• Where—Dublin, Ireland
• Education—Trinity College
• Awards—Curtis Brown Award; Irish Book Awards: People's
Choice of the Year
• Currently—Dublin, Ireland
John Boyne is an Irish novelist, the author of 10 adult novels and five for younger readers. He is best known for his 2006 YA novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which sold 9 million copies and catapulted him to international fame. The book became a 2008 feature film. His novels are published in over 50 languages.
Background
Born in Dublin, Ireland, where he still lives, Boyne studied English literature at Trinity College and later creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. While at UEA, he won the Curtis Brown Prize and years later, in 2015, received a UEA Honary Doctorate of Letters.
In 1993 the Sunday Tribune published Boyne's first short story; the story was subsequently shortlisted for a Hennessy Award. In addition to his novels, Boyne regularly reviews for The Irish Times. He has also served as judge for a number of literary awards: Hennessy Literary Awards, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Green Carnation Prize, and Scotiabank Giller Prize, for which he served as the 2015 jury chair.
Awards
Boyne's own list of awards list is impressive: Hennessy Literary Hall of Fame Award for the body of his work; three Irish Book Awards (Children's Book of the Year, People's Choice Book of the Year, and Short Story of the Year); Que Leer Award Novel of the Year (Spain); and Gustave Heineman Peace Prize (Germany). (Adapted from Wikipedia and the author's website. Retrieved 8/14/2017.)
Book Reviews
I’m embarrassed by how much I enjoyed John Boyne’s wicked new novel, A Ladder to the Sky. It’s an addictive Rubik’s Cube of vice that keeps turning up new patterns of depravity. By the time every facet clicks into place, the story feels utterly surprising yet completely inevitable.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
Take Meg Wolitzer's novel (now also a film) called The Wife, about a brazen case of literary ghostwriting, and cross it with Patricia Highsmith's classic Ripley stories, about a suave psychopath, and you've got something of the crooked charisma of John Boyne's new novel, A Ladder to the Sky.… Maliciously witty, erudite and ingeniously constructed A Ladder to the Sky explores the cold outer limits of ambition.
NPR
A darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart.
People
Maurice Swift may not be much of a novelist, but he inhabits a literary tradition going to back to Patricia Highsmith. Boyne’s protagonist is Tom Ripley as literary climber.… Boyne’s novel is about high literature but has lower, juicier ambitions, at which it wildly succeeds.
Vulture
A taut and gripping novel… as craftily written as Swift himself.
Esquire
A Ladder to the Sky is clever, chilling and beautifully paced; a study of inner corrosion that Patricia Highsmith herself could not have done better.… wickedly astute.
Times (UK)
Maurice Swift is a literary Tom Ripley.… [A] first-class page turner.
Guardian (UK)
A deliciously dark tale of ambition, seduction and literary theft . . . compelling and terrifying . . . powerful and intensely unsettling …in Maurice Swift, Boyne has given us an unforgettable protagonist, dangerous and irresistible in equal measure. The result is an ingeniously conceived novel that confirms Boyne as one of the most assured writers of his generation.
Observer (UK)
Deliciously venomous.… A Ladder to the Sky is an entertaining, if deeply cynical portrait of the literary world.
BookPage
(Starred review) [E]evocative…. Boyne’s fast-paced, white-knuckle plot, accompanied by delightfully sardonic commentary on the ego, insecurities, and pitfalls of those involved in the literary world, makes for a truly engrossing experience.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Boyne expertly explores notions of originality and authorship through multiple first-person accounts of the despicable Swift. As a result, his latest novel is absorbing, horrifying, and recommended.
Library Journal
Well-crafted.…The novel unfolds in an extremely layered manner, but what Swift’s story slowly reveals says much about publishing, pride, deceit, and plagiarism—and worse, much worse.
Booklist
(Starred review) An all-consuming ambition to be a successful writer drives a young man down unusual paths to literary acclaim in this compelling character study…. Boyne's singular villain and well-sustained tension merit a good audience.
Kirkus Reviews
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 A LADDER TO THE SKY ... then take off on your own:
1. What do you think of Maurice—how would you describe him? What is his underlying motivation, the force (or is it a need) that drives him? Have you ever met anyone with Maurice's qualities?
2. John Boyne cleverly hides the intentions behind Maurice's questioning of Erich about his years under the Nazis. At what point did you begin to suspect Maurice's duplicity?
3. Once he realizes what Maurice has done to him, Erich says, "I had, quite literally, been the author of my own misfortune." Do you think he's right? Is Erich, ultimately, the one responsible?
4. Follow-up to Question 3: Maurice maintains that he is not exploiting anyone; he believes that everyone gets what they want. What do you think: is Maurice's assessment clear-eyed, cynical, the mark of a realist … or a sociopath?
5. Gore Vidal is impervious to Maurice's charms; in fact, he sees through Maurice, realizing he's playing a game. What does Vidal see in Maurice that others do not?
6. Vidal, considers his visiting author friend "a hack with a modicum of talent." What do you make of his observation that the writer took care "never to offend the middle-aged ladies and closeted homosexuals who made up the bulk of his readership. His books were efficiently written but so painfully innocuous that even President Reagan had taken one on holiday"? Ouch! In fact, so many ouches in those two sentences. Care to critique them?
7. Boyne takes satirical aim at the literary world. What and/or whom specifically does he satirize—what is he attempting to reveal to his readers?
8. How would you describe Edith Camberley? What about the couple's marriage? In what way does Edith's own success affect Maurice? Edith has seen her husband close-up, yet she seems blind to his cruelty. What is it about her that makes her so malleable under his control?
9. Follow-up to Question 8: The author is masterful in building up a sense of menace within the marriage. How did you react to Maurice's plotting? Would "terrified" be a good word?
10. As you read A Ladder to the Sky, did you find yourself liking Maurice—almost against your will? If so, why?
11. Were you ready for the novel's twist? Were you surprised or did you see it coming (maybe a little of both)?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Hiro Arikawa, 2015; U.S., 2018 (trans., Philip Gabriel)
Penguin Publishing
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451491336
Summary
A life-affirming anthem to kindness and self-sacrifice, The Travelling Cat Chronicles shows how the smallest things can provide the greatest joy.
We take journeys to explore exotic new places and to return to the comforts of home, to visit old acquaintances and to make new friends. But the most important journey is the one that shows us how to follow our hearts…
An instant international bestseller and Indie Bestseller, The Travelling Cat Chronicles has charmed readers around the world. With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe…
With his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 9, 1972
• Where—Kochi, Japan
• Education—Sonoda Women's University
• Awards—Dengeki Novel Prize
• Currently—lives in Japan
Hiro Arikawa is a well-known Japanese "light novelist" (Japanese for young adult novels) who has published than a dozen books, including two series: "The SDF" (Self-defense forces) series and "The Library" series. Arikawa was born in Kochi, Japan and attended the Sonoda Women's University, a private women's college in Amagasaki, Japan.
Although considered a light novelist, Arikawa's books—from her second work onwards—have been published as hardbacks and stand alongside more literary works. Her 2006 light novel Toshokan Sensō (The Library War) was named as Hon no Zasshi's number one for entertainment for the first half of 2006, and came 5th in the Honya Taishō for that year, competing against standard adult novels. Two of her works were adapted to film in 2015 and 2016.
Arikawa won the 10th annual Dengeki Novel Prize for new writers for Shio no Machi (Wish on My Precious) in 2003, and the book was published the following year. It was praised for its love story between a heroine and hero divided by age and social status, and for its depiction of military structures.
Arikawa first came to the attention of English-language readers with her 2015 bestseller, The Travelling Cat Chronicles. The work was published in the U.S. in 2018 with solid reviews and brisk sales. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 11/28/2018.)
Book Reviews
Anyone who has ever unashamedly loved an animal will read this book with gratitude, for its understanding of an emotion that ennobles us as human beings, whether we value it or not.
Lynne Truss - Guardian (UK)
It’s the wisdom and stoicism of the feline narrator that makes this book such an engaging read. Like Alison Jean Lester’s recent Yuki Means Happiness, it provides a fascinating insight into Japanese culture and traditions, but ultimately it doesn’t matter that it’s about a man and a cat. Like Of Mice and Men or The Kite Runner, Arikawa’s central concern is friendship and the things we’ll do for the people, or animals, that we love.
Irish Times
Continues the Japanese tradition of folkloric tales that celebrate simple values such as self-sacrifice and friendship. It has the warmth, painterly touch, and tenderness of a Studio Ghibli film—and is a delight to read.
Financial Times (UK)
I doubt many readers—as cynical and hardened as they may—will get through it dry-eyed.
NPR
The book's greatest strength is that it allows its readers to experience vicarious happiness even as a sense of impending loss begins to creep through the pages.
NPR
[Arikawa’s] book stands out within the world of cat literature …and it’s a world worth exploring.
Time
But as simple as both the premise and prose of The Travelling Cat Chronicles, it’s a novel that will leave your heart both comfortably full and utterly raw.
Bustle
Nana, a stray cat adopted by 30-something Satoru Miyawaki, narrates this lovely tale… [A] touching novel of a brave cat and his gentle, wise human will resonate with lovers of animal tales, quiet stories of friendship, and travelogues alike.
Publishers Weekly
Despite its seeming simplicity, the novel contains surprising depth. Arikawa artfully portrays Nana's "catness," … [pairing him] with the gentle soul of Satoru…. Gentle, soft-spoken, and full of wisdom.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Travelling Cat Chronicles exemplifies the idea that life isn’t about the destination; it’s about the journey. How do both Satoru and Nana show us that life is what we make of it?
2. Friendships come and go, as we all know. Yet friendships are everlasting in this book, despite the years that go by without any contact. Do you think this is true in real life? Aided by social media and how fast communication is now—via e-mail, chat programs, and text messages—have you reached out to someone you were close to many years ago but were no longer in touch with? Did this book make you want to reach out to someone?
3. The idea of being saved is a theme in this book—whether it’s Nana literally being saved from homelessness and hunger by Satoru, or Satoru feeling saved by Nana as Nana brought love into his life. Is there someone in your life, a furry friend or a person, who has saved you?
4. Japanese culture is predominant in the book. Were there aspects of the culture you found particularly fascinating, especially in regard to how Japanese people love their cats? Do you find that the same is true in America?
5. Both Nana and Satoru hold strong memories of enjoying nature together during their travels. Why was it important for Satoru to share these experiences with Nana? What did Nana learn from them?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)