The Steady Running of the Hour
Justin Go, 2014
Simon & Schuster
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476704586
Summary
A Quest Novel and a historical tour de force, The Steady Running of the Hour unravels a tale of passion, legacy, and courage reaching across the twentieth century.
In 1924, the English mountaineer Ashley Walsingham dies attempting to summit Mount Everest, leaving his fortune to his former lover, Imogen Soames-Andersson—whom he has not seen in seven years. Ashley’s solicitors search in vain for Imogen, but the estate remains unclaimed.
Nearly eighty years later, new information leads the same law firm to Tristan Campbell, a young American who could be the estate’s rightful heir. If Tristan can prove he is Imogen’s descendant, the inheritance will be his. But with only weeks before Ashley’s trust expires, Tristan must hurry to find the evidence he needs.
From London archives to Somme battlefields to the Eastfjords of Iceland, Tristan races to piece together the story behind the unclaimed riches: a reckless love affair pursued only days before Ashley’s deployment to the Western Front; a desperate trench battle fought by soldiers whose hope is survival rather than victory; an expedition to the uncharted heights of the world’s tallest mountain.
Following a trail of evidence that stretches to the far edge of Europe, Tristan becomes consumed by Ashley and Imogen’s story. But as he draws close to the truth, Tristan realizes he may be seeking something more than an unclaimed fortune.
The Steady Running of the Hour announces the arrival of a stunningly talented author. Justin Go’s novel is heartrending, transporting, and utterly compelling. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September 7, 1980
• Where—Los Angeles, California
• Education—B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., University
College, London
• Currently—"Transient. Usually in the US or Europe" (mostly New York City
or Berlin, Germany).
Justin Go attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with a BA in history and art history. He also holds an MA in English from University College London. He has lived in Tokyo, Paris, London, (Brooklyn) New York City, and Berlin. He is currently at work on his second novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
With this debut, Justin Go deploys the elements of a caper—an unclaimed fortune, an illicit affair—in an assured literary thriller.
Wall Street Journal
Go’s intriguing first novel spans the 20th century… with vivid accounts of wartime France, pioneering mountaineering expeditions, and an isolated village in Iceland.
BBC
Go’s debut is ambitious in many ways: it evokes a time of privileged daring... [and] love that transcends time and disdains convention; and it fluidly moves between past and present.... [The] story, as told in flashback, feels heartfelt but overwrought, and the trench warfare and climbing scenes, while competently executed, mine an oft-depicted period without adding much that’s new.
Publishers Weekly
Gifted storyteller Go captures a period feel in the backstory through his narratives and uses dialog to reveal his characters' place among the affluent, while Tristan's contemporary story line profiles a young man making do with what he has and driven to unravel the truth behind his family's past. This story is a page-turner and an impressive first work, sure to be appreciated by fans of historical and travel fiction. —Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
Library Journal
Ambitious…this is a remarkable work.
Booklist
Debut novelist Go splices two stories in his extravagant, superficial debut.... Tristan, a young Californian, is told by a London lawyer [a] fortune is his if he can prove Imogen was his great-grandmother. The guy is a windup toy; Go sends him on a document search, traveling from Sweden to Paris to Berlin to Iceland to beat a seven-week deadline.... Go is a maximalist (lofty emotions, extreme settings) punching above his weight
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel’s title is taken from a line in the epigraph that begins the novel. How does the epigraph, from “Strange Meeting,” relate both to Tristan’s quest and Ashley’s life? Why do you think Justin Go chose to title his novel The Steady Running of the Hour?
2. Of Imogen and Ashley, Geoffrey Khan says, “These were not people like you and me.” What does he mean? What were your first impressions of both Ashley and Imogen? Did any of their actions surprise you as you learned more of their love story? Which ones, and why?
3. Tristan recounts how his half brother, Adam, told him, “I always ask for advice so I can worry about it. Then I go and do the thing I was going to do anyway, because knowing it’s a bad idea never stopped me.” Do you agree with Adam’s assessment of Tristan? Give examples from the book that support your opinion. Why do you think Tristan chooses to share Adam’s words with Mireille?
4. Describe the trust that Tristan stands to inherit. How was it set up, and why? Why do you think Prichard is so invested in having Tristan inherit Ashley’s estate?
5. Ashley tells Imogen that he joined the army because “I was bored at Cambridge.... And I was fool enough to worry I’d miss something if I kept out of the war.” Compare Ashley’s ideas of war with the realities he faces in the trenches. Describe his wartime experiences. Do they change him? If so, how?
6. Mireille says that “even love can sometimes be a mistake, and that perhaps this vanished love of Ashley and Imogen’s had been a wasted one.” Do you agree with Mireille about Ashley and Imogen’s relationship? Do you think they loved each other? Why or why not? Describe the nature of their love.
7. As Tristan delves more deeply into Ashley and Imogen’s history, his reaction to Ashley’s estate changes. How does it change? What accounts for the alteration in his feelings toward it? Why do you think Imogen never claimed Ashley’s estate, despite being named heir?
8. Eleanor criticizes Imogen for “turning away from ordinary choices,” saying, “If someone expects something from you, you can’t bear to give it to them.” Is Eleanor right about Imogen’s character? In what ways has Imogen turned away from “ordinary choices,” and what have the results been? Compare the two sisters. How are they different?
9. When a hotel clerk mistakenly thinks Imogen and Ashley are married, she’s displeased because “it’s just not how I want to think of us.” Contrast Imogen’s attitude toward marriage with Ashley’s. She believes that “one oughtn’t give names to what two people are to one another. It only makes it harder to be one’s self.” Do you agree with her? Why or why not?
10. When Tristan speaks of his plan to leave France and go to Berlin, Mireille is critical of him: “You don’t understand what’s going on around you.” In what ways do his experiences change him, and are they for the better? Why do you think Mireille reacts so strongly to the plan? Is she justified in her criticisms of Tristan? Why or why not? What are some of Tristan’s aspects that Mireille disapproves of?
11. While Imogen is in Sweden, she wonders if she and Ashley had “truly made choices, or had they given in to forces they felt too weak to resist?” What do you think? Did they have choices with regard to their love affair? Both Imogen’s relationship with Ashley and Tristan’s with Mireille unfold over the course of only a few days. Compare and contrast the two relationships. In what ways, if any, are the two relationships alike?
12. After the war, Ashley tells Eleanor that he won’t give up trying to find Imogen. She replies, “You are giving something up.... You just don’t realize it.” Is she correct? What is Ashley giving up by continuing to search for Imogen? Why do you think he persists?
13. Book 3 begins with an epigraph that, in part, reads, “If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery.” Discuss instances of bravery that occur in The Steady Running of the Hour. Do you think that Imogen is brave for the way she handles her relationship with Ashley? Why or why not?
14. Duties figure prominently throughout The Steady Running of the Hour. When Imogen asks Ashley to leave the army, he tells her he cannot, because, he says, “I’ve a duty.” Do you agree with his decision to “see this through”? Why or why not? Does Imogen have any responsibilities toward Ashley? What are they? What duties does Tristan have toward Ashley’s estate, if any?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Expats
Chris Pavone, 2012
Crown Publishing
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780770435721
Summary
An international thriller, The Expats is the story of a seemingly ordinary working mom, Kate Moore, whose husband, Dexter, is offered a lucrative job in Luxembourg—a move that will unravel everything they believed about each other.
Kate and Dexter have struggled to make ends meet, so they jump at the chance to start a new life abroad with the promise of rich rewards. But Kate has been leading a double life, and leaving America forces her to abandon her dangerous but heroic job. She soon discovers that it will be harder than she thought to shed her past, especially while coping with the weight of an unbearable secret.
Dexter seems to be keeping secrets of his own, working long hours for a banking client whose name he can't reveal. When another American couple befriends them, Kate begins to peel back the layers of deception that surround her, revealing a heart-stopping con that threatens her family, her marriage, and her life.
Sophisticated and expertly crafted, The Expats is set in some of Europe's most enchanting locales, and races toward a provocative, startling conclusion. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1969
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Cornell University
• Awards—Edgar Award; Anthony Award
• Currently—lives in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island, New York
Chris Pavone’s (Pah-VOH-nee) first novel, The Expats, was a New York Times and international bestseller, with nearly 20 foreign editions and a major film deal. It received both the 2013 Edgar Award and Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Pavone's second novel, The Accident, was published in 2014 and was also an instant New York Times bestseller.
Chris grew up in New York City and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and then Cornell University. He worked at a number of publishing houses over nearly two decades, mostly as an editor. He is married and the father of twin schoolboys, and they all live in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
As it repeatedly morphs from humdrum dailiness into espionage maneuvers, The Expats pulls off the crazy illusion that these elements actually belong in the same story…Mr. Pavone strengthens this book with a string of head-spinning revelations in its last pages, as layer after layer of deceit is peeled away. (Think of an onion.) The tireless scheming of all four principals truly exceeds all sane expectations.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
[S]martly executed…Pavone is full of sharp insights into the parallels between political espionage and marital duplicity…The absence of a story angle linking Kate's personal quest to some larger issue of international consequence keeps this novel outside the mainstream of espionage fiction. But the intimate look it offers into the experiences of people who exist in a boring but happy limbo…makes The Expats thoroughly captivating.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
Expertly and intricately plotted, with a story spiraling into disaster and a satisfyingly huge amount of double-crossing, The Expats certainly doesn’t feel like a first novel. This is an impressively assured entry to the thriller scene.
Guardian (UK)
Pavone plunges around with a plot-load of surprises...and he moves smoothly between the mundane and the melodramatic...The spinning of the plot is ingenious.
Washington Times
Refreshingly original.... Part Ludlum in the pacing, part Le Carré in the complexity of story and character, but mostly Chris Pavone.... A thriller so good that you wonder what other ideas [Pavone] has up his cloak, right alongside the obligatory dagger.
Newark Star-Ledger
Amazing... Impossible to put down.... Pavone invokes memories of the great writers of spy fiction of the past, and he has the chops to be mentioned with the best of them.
Associated Press
Superb.... [Pavone] expertly draws readers along with well-timed clues and surprises.... An engineering marvel.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Bombshell-a-minute.... Pavone creates a fascinating, complicated hero.
Entertainment Weekly
A gripping spy drama and an artful study of the sometimes cat-and-mouse game of marriage.
Family Circle
[M]eticulously plotted, psychologically complex spy thriller.... The sheer amount of bombshell plot twists are nothing short of extraordinary, but it's Pavone’s portrayal of Kate and her quest to find meaning in her charade of an existence that makes this book such a powerful read.
Publishers Weekly
Kate is a young mom cozily wrapped up in her expat life in tiny Luxembourg—her two young sons and husband fill her days. What keeps her up at night glued to the Internet is the suspicion that a couple of casual buddies she met on the cocktail circuit are really assassins.... Brilliant, insanely clever, and delectably readable. —Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, Va
Library Journal
A stunningly assured first novel.... An intricate, suspenseful plot that is only resolved in the final pages. The juxtaposition of marital deceptions and espionage is brilliantly employed.... A must for espionage fans.
Booklist
An impressive thriller by first-time novelist Pavone, with almost more double-crosses than a body can stand.... While Kate occasionally has to rely on former CIA contacts to help straighten out the mess she finds herself in, she shows herself quite capable of ruthlessness and venality. A thoroughly competent and enjoyable thriller with unanticipated twists that will keep readers guessing till the end.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How does Kate's sense of self shift throughout the novel? In the end, how does she reconcile the roles of wife, mom, and adrenaline-seeking agent?
2. In chapter ten, on page ninety-three, Kate thinks about crossing an unspoken line that exists in many marriages: "You know the lines are there, you feel them: the things you don't discuss.... You go about your business, as far away from these lines as possible, pretending they're not there." To what degree did Kate and Dexter deceive themselves, as much as they deceived each other? Is complete honesty realistic for most married couples?
3. After working hard to keep her own career a secret from Dexter, why is it hard for Kate to accept his secrecy about his job? Was she setting a double standard or just responding to her well-honed instincts?
4. What were your initial theories about Julia and Bill, and the "Today" scenes?
5. Kate was well suited to her job when she led a solitary life. What did the CIA give her in lieu of love? As she realizes that Dexter and her family are all she has, how does her understanding of love change?
6. What is Hayden's role in Kate's life? Do you have a Hayden to rely on?
7. How do Kate and Dexter feel about the power of breadwinners in a marriage? What does their story say about resenting a spouse who doesn't seem to be contributing (Dexter in America) versus resenting a spouse who seems to be a workaholic (Dexter in Luxembourg)? In the end, which of the novel's characters prove to be the most materialistic?
8. Kate is haunted by the Torres episode. How did this continue to define her decision making and actions years later? If you were ever in a situation like this, how far would you go to protect your family?
9. Dexter often cites human gullibility as a weakness in I.T. security. Discuss the characters who let their guard down for love, vanity, sex, wealth, or other lures. What ultimately makes Dexter gullible? Does his gullibility make him blameless?
10. As the plot began to unfold, which revelations surprised you the most? What truth was buried beneath the layers of deception?
11. The Expats delivers a highly realistic portrayal of female agents, motherhood, and strong women who outsmart men. What is the effect of knowing that the book was written by a man?
12. Does it matter that the Colonel was bloodthirsty? Do the ends justify the means?
13. What does the novel say about trust and how it is earned? What do Kate and Dexter discover about the strength of their trust for each other?
14. Discuss the life of expatriates in general—a role the author experienced when his wife accepted a job in Luxembourg. If you were to live abroad, where would you want to set up housekeeping? How do expats balance the fact that they're foreigners with the need to feel at home? Would you enjoy close-knit communities of expat spouses, or would the lack of privacy be hard to handle?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Accident
Chris Pavone, 2014
Crown Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385348454
Summary
As dawn approaches in New York, literary agent Isabel Reed is turning the final pages of a mysterious, anonymous manuscript, racing through the explosive revelations about powerful people, as well as long-hidden secrets about her own past.
In Copenhagen, veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray, determined that this sweeping story be buried, is suddenly staring down the barrel of an unexpected gun. And in Zurich, the author himself is hiding in a shadowy expat life, trying to atone for a lifetime’s worth of lies and betrayals with publication of The Accident, while always looking over his shoulder.
Over the course of one long, desperate, increasingly perilous day, these lives collide as the book begins its dangerous march toward publication, toward saving or ruining careers and companies, placing everything at risk—and everyone in mortal peril. The rich cast of characters—in publishing and film, politics and espionage—are all forced to confront the consequences of their ambitions, the schisms between their ideal selves and the people they actually became.
The action rockets around Europe and across America, with an intricate web of duplicities stretching back a quarter-century to a dark winding road in upstate New York, where the shocking truth about the accident itself is buried.
Gripping, sophisticated, layered, and impossible to put down, The Accident proves once again that Chris Pavone is a true master of suspense. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1969
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Cornell University
• Awards—Edgar Award; Anthony Award
• Currently—lives in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island, New York
Chris Pavone’s (Pah-VOH-nee) first novel, The Expats, was a New York Times and international bestseller, with nearly 20 foreign editions and a major film deal. It received both the 2013 Edgar Award and Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Pavone's second novel, The Accident, was published in 2014 and was also an instant New York Times bestseller.
Chris grew up in New York City and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn and then Cornell University. He worked at a number of publishing houses over nearly two decades, mostly as an editor. He is married and the father of twin schoolboys, and they all live in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
With The Accident, [Pavone] matches The Expats's nail-biting level of excitement…The Accident is a thriller about publishing, and if that sounds like an oxymoron, Mr. Pavone is very good at rendering it wildly dramatic…Call Mr. Pavone a reliable new must-read in the world of thrillers
Janet Maslin - New York Times
Marvelous.... The deft plot globetrots and en route provides glamorous locales as well as twisty turns in suspense.
New York Daily News
Smart and stylish.... Thrill-a-minute.... The Accident never stumbles as it confidently and most entertainingly barrels forward toward shocking revelations and a bombshell of a finish.
Chicago Tribune
A propulsive A-train of a thrill ride and worthy successor to Pavone’s debut.
Los Angeles Times
The thriller-of-the-year.... Pavone’s characters seem genuine, with some flaws in the good guys and some virtues in the bad guys.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A fast-paced, dangerous ride.... That intricate plot [propels you] forward, twisting and turning right up to its final, ultimately satisfying conclusion.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Tantalizing.... With terrific surprises and high-quality writing in this engaging thriller.
Associated Press
A sly globetrotting spy thriller that gives new meaning to publish or perish.
Family Circle
A high-wire thriller featuring a Wolfe-ian cast of characters.
Vogue.com
A fast-paced, airport-ready thriller.... Pavone writes well about the politics of modern publishing.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review.) The contents of "The Accident," a manuscript submission by an anonymous author, shock New York literary agent Isabel Reed, the heroine of Pavone's high-wire thriller.... [A] cast of distinctive characters.... Despite the far-fetched conceit, Pavone makes the story credible, and the suspense is palpable.
Publishers Weekly
Pavone's second novel (after his Edgar Award-winning thriller The Expats) follows several people in the publishing industry as they handle a manuscript that promises tremendous personal gain but, as some soon learn, at risk of death.... [An] enengaging thriller, driven by compelling portraits of desperate characters, each of whom will come to wonder if the manuscript in hand is worth the cost. —Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson
Library Journal
(Starred review.) New York literary agent Isabel Reed plows through an anonymous manuscript in one night and immediately knows two things: The manuscript, a biography of a media mogul, will be a blockbuster, and people will die if word of its existence leaks. [M]any readers will read this one through the night. —Thomas Gaughan
Booklist
The action here involves a manuscript entitled "The Accident," which threatens to bring down a media empire owned by Charlie Wolfe, who now aspires to a political career..... Almost everyone physically connected with the manuscript starts getting killed in Charlie's desperate attempt to quash this expose of his past. Pavone knows the formula for a best-seller and keeps the reader turning the pages.
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)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
The Cold Song
Linn Ullmann, 2011 (Eng. trans., 2013)
Other Press
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781590516676
Summary
Ullmann’s characters are complex and paradoxical: neither fully guilty nor fully innocent
Siri Brodal, a chef and restaurant owner, is married to Jon Dreyer, a famous novelist plagued by writer’s block. Siri and Jon have two daughters, and together they spend their summers on the coast of Norway, in a mansion belonging to Jenny Brodal, Siri’s stylish and unforgiving mother.
Siri and Jon’s marriage is loving but difficult, and troubled by painful secrets. They have a strained relationship with their elder daughter, Alma, who struggles to find her place in the family constellation. When Milla is hired as a nanny to allow Siri to work her long hours at the restaurant and Jon to supposedly meet the deadline on his book, life in the idyllic summer community takes a dire turn. One rainy July night, Milla disappears without a trace. After her remains are discovered and a suspect is identified, everyone who had any connection with her feels implicated in her tragedy and haunted by what they could have done to prevent it.
The Cold Song is a story about telling stories and about how life is continually invented and reinvented. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 9, 1966
• Where—Oslo, Norway
• Education—B.A., New York University
• Awards—Readers' Prize; Amalie Skram Award; Golden Pen (all Norwegian)
• Currently—lives in Oslo, Norway
Linn Ullmann (originally Karin Beate Ullmann) is a Norwegian author and journalist. She is the daughter of actress, author and director Liv Ullmann and director and screenwriter Ingmar Bergman. She graduated from New York University, where she studied English literature and began work on her Ph.D. A prominent literary critic, she also writes a column for Norway's leading morning newspaper and has published four novels.
Writing
When her first and critically acclaimed novel Before You Sleep was published in 1998, she was already known as an influential literary critic. Her second novel, Stella Descending was published in 2001 and her third novel Grace was published in 2002. For Grace, Ullmann received the literary award The Readers' Prize in Norway, and the book was named one of the top ten novels that year by the prestigious newspaper Weekendavisen in Denmark. In 2007, Grace was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the United Kingdom, and in March the same year, the Norwegian theater Riksteatret played a successful run of the theatrical play Grace, based on the novel.
Ullmann's fourth novel A Blessed Child was published in Norway in 2005 and shortlisted for the prestigious Norwegian literature prize—the Brage Prize. In 2007, she was awarded the Amalie Skram Award for her literary work, and she received Gullpennen (the Golden Pen) for her journalism in Norway's leading morning newspaper Aftenposten. In 2008, A Blessed Child was named Best Translated novel in the British newspaper The Independent, and in 2009 the novel was longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in the UK. Her fifth novel, The Cold Song, was published in Norway in late 2011. It was translated into English in 2013 by Barbara J. Haveland and published in the U.S. in 2014.
Ullmann's novels are published throughout Europe and the United States and are translated into 30 languages.
Literary awards
Gold Pen (Norwegian) (2007)
Amalie Skram Prize (Norwegian) (2007)
Norwegian Readers' Prize (Norwegian) (2002)
Other
Ullmann is co-founder (2009) and former Artistic Director of the international artist residency foundation The Bergman Estate on Faro. She served on the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Ullmann is married to Niels Fredrik Dahl, a novelist, playwright and poet. They live in Oslo. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/16/2014.)
Book Reviews
Although a vicious crime serves as the grain of sand around which this pearl of a novel is formed, Linn Ullmann's The Cold Song is not a crime story…Yet the novel…is steeped in dread the way a fruitcake is steeped in rum: Every page, every line, seems to glisten with vapors of sumptuous, intoxicating unease.
Leah Hager Cohen - New York Times Book Review
Ullmann’s rural Norway is an unfussy place, eloquent for its starkness, much like the spare language she paints it with. Her stage is less about physical place than mood and one’s place in the familial symmetry. While much happens in this novel, the events feel secondary. The prose is taut, yet the pace is languid as summer in that before-the-storm tension…The real achievement of this novel is Ullmann’s gift to imbue the tension of a thriller via the unease of the mundane…Yes, a murder occurs, but The Cold Song is more a mystery in the way most families tend to be mysteries unto themselves.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The discovery of a corpse...serves mostly as a basis for the author’s subtle and menacing look at family dynamics.... Ullmann teeters between dark comedy of manners and genuine psychological thriller, but she consistently captures the telling moments in everyday encounters, and writes seductively complex characters.
Publishers Weekly
In her fifth novel, Ullman demonstrates her expertise in inhabiting the minds of complex characters, including Milla’s grieving parents; a neighbor who may have been the last to see Milla alive; Siri’s aging mother; Siri’s elder daughter, who has a violent temper; and, of course, the beleaguered couple, Siri and Jon. Readers who appreciate an unconventional narrative flow will find this a deeply moving story of troubled relationships and unsettled memories.
Booklist
(Starred review.) The fifth novel by an award-winning Norwegian author and critic deserves to win her a much larger stateside readership. The latest and best from Ullmann (A Blessed Child, 2008, etc.) resists categorization, except as a literary page-turner.It's a murder mystery. It's a multigenerational psychodrama of a dysfunctional family. And it's a very dark comedy of manners. Yet the authors command is such that it never reads like a pastiche or suffers from jarring shifts of tone.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Cold Song takes its name from the eponymous aria in Henry Purcell’s opera King Arthur. Jon Dreyer, plagued by writer’s block, listens repeatedly to the late Klaus Nomi’s rendition of “The Cold Song.” What role does wasted talent play in The Cold Song?
2. Why does Milla’s mother send Jon text messages about Milla’s death instead of confronting him directly? What other instances of indirect confrontation do you find in The Cold Song, and why do you think they occur?
3. Examine K.B.’s role in the novel. Why does he remain a minor character, even though his actions spark the central conflict of the story? What other important characters/conflicts arise and then fade into the periphery of the narrative?
4. Jon Dreyer writes to-do lists, e-mails, and text messages in his study, but rarely chapters of his novel. What role do different forms of storytelling play in The Cold Song? How do the stories Siri, Jon, and Jenny tell themselves and each other differ from reality?
5. Alma and Milla share a special relationship. Why doesn’t Alma mention that she’d seen Milla in the woods on the night of her murder?
6. Siri tries to maintain an appearance of calm, despite the chaos she experiences all around her. Why are appearances so important to her? Why does Siri insist on throwing the party for her mother when Jenny doesn’t want one at all? Consider their relationship and her mother’s anger. In what other ways does Jenny “divide” herself (p. 70)? How does this habit influence her other relationships?
7. From the outset of the novel, Siri feels uncomfortable around Milla. Jon feels uncomfortable around his daughter, Alma, and at one point even expresses the worry that his daughter does not understand him. How does Siri’s unease differ from Jon’s?
8. Many characters in the novel are denied a sense of resolution or closure—Jon never completes his novel, Jenny never successfully defeats her alcoholism, and Siri never resolves her uncertain relationship with Milla. At the end of the novel, Amanda tells Siri and Jon, “We can’t move on.” Does the final scene promise resolution for Milla’s parents, or do you think that closure is impossible?
9. The mother-daughter bonds in The Cold Song are tense and riven with secret wounds and grievances. Jenny and Siri, Siri and Alma, even Milla and Amanda have troubled relationships. What significance do these relationships hold for you?
10. Throughout the novel, Milla is depicted from the perspective of many different characters—Simen, Siri, Jon, her parents, etc.—and yet readers rarely gain access into her own mind. She is remembered through photographs, newspaper articles, and other frozen images created by others. In what ways is Milla objectified, viewed as a spectacle more than an autonomous human being? Why is this important?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Land of Steady Habits
Ted Thompson, 2014
Little, Brown
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316186568
Summary
Anders Hill, entering his early sixties and seemingly ensconced in the "land of steady habits"—a nickname for the affluent, morally strict hamlets of Connecticut that dot his commuter rail line—abandons his career and family for a new condo and a new life. Stripped of the comforts of his previous identity, Anders turns up at a holiday party full of his ex-wife's friends and is suprised to find that the very world he rejected may be one he needs.
Thus Anders embarks on a clumsy, hilarious, and heartbreaking journey to reconcile his past with his present. Like the early work of John Updike, Ted Thompson's first novel finely observes a man in deep conflict with his community.
With compassion for its characters and fresh insight into the American tradition of the "suburban narrative," The Land of Steady Habits introduces an auspicious talent. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1981
• Raised—Westport, Connecticut, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Iow Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Ted Thompson is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he was awarded a Truman Capote Fellowship. His work has appeared in Tin House and Best New American Voices, among other publications. He was born in Connecticut, lives in Brooklyn with his wife, and teaches fiction at the Sackett Street Writer's Workshop. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Ted Thompson's elegiac yet bighearted take on adult disillusionment earns its comparisons to suburbans bards such as Updike and Cheever
Wall Street Journal
[M]asterful...The opening paragraph in a novel is like the first shot in a movie: a good one tells you everything. And Ted Thompson's stunning debut cranes right into the thick of it.
Town & Country
Late-life divorce is the subject of Thompson’s acutely written first novel.... [T]he author proves to be as keen an observer of this social scene as his literary forebears, Cheever and Updike. Anders, Helene, their children, lovers and friends, might not be the most likable group of characters you’ll come across, but the author humanizes them in a way that makes their problems relatable.
Publishers Weekly
As a rebellious teen, Anders Hill rejects his father's plans for his future and succeeds on his own. In doing so, he finds himself in the land of steady habits, commuting to a finance job in Manhattan from a bedroom community in Connecticut.... [A] story replete with characters searching for something other than what they have.... [A] book by a young, upcoming writer. —Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Filled with heartache and humor, this assured, compassionate first novel channels the suburban angst of Updike and Cheever, updating the narrative of midlife dissatisfaction with a scathing dissection of America's imploding economy...with pitch-perfect prose and endearingly melancholy characters, Thompson offers up a heartbreaking vision of an ailing family and country.
Booklist
[T]he soul-crushing consequences of suburban prosperity is modernized here as a successful financier looks around his life and sees a wasteland. Southerner Anders Hill went to great lengths to avoid the upstanding conformity his father had planned for him, but at age 60, he's not sure what difference it's made.... [A] searing portrait of American wealth unraveling that is both dazzling and immeasurably sad.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
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