The Hundred-Foot Journey
Richard C. Morais, 2010
Scribner
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476765853
Summary
That skinny Indian teenager has that mysterious something that comes along once a generation. He is one of those rare chefs who is simply born. He is an artist.
And so begins the rise of Hassan Haji, the unlikely gourmand who recounts his life’s journey in Richard Morais’s charming novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey. Lively and brimming with the colors, flavors, and scents of the kitchen, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a succulent treat about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste.
Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.
The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures.
The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable. (From the publisher.)
A film version of the novel, released in 2014, stars Helen Mirren.
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1959-60
• Where—Portugal
• Raised—Switzerland
• Education—B.A., Sarah Lawrence College
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York USA
Richard C. Morais is an American financial journalist and author, who was born in Portugal and raised in Switzerland. He spent 17 years in London working for Forbes magazine and, since 2003, has lived in New York City. Currently Morais is is the editor of Penta, a Barron’s website and quarterly magazine.
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, New York), Morais began work as a news intern for PBS's The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, eventually selling freelance film features to the New York Times. In 1986 he moved to London as Forbes magazine's European correspondent and later its European bureau chief. Over the years, he won three London-based Business Journalist of the Year Awards for his international coverage.
Morais published his first book, the biographay Pierre Cardin: The Man Who Became a Label, in 1991. The Hundred-Foot Journey, his first novel, came out in 2010 and was adapted to film in 2014. His second novel, Buddhaland Brooklyn, also came out in 2014. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The novel’s charm lies in its improbability: it’s Slumdog Millionaire meets Ratatouille.
New York Times Book Review
Serious foodies will swoon. Morais throws himself into the kind of descriptive writing that makes reading a gastronomic event.
Washington Post Book Review
[A] rich, imagery-filled culinary world that begins in Bombay and ends in Paris.... From vibrantly depicted French markets and restaurant kitchens to the lively and humorously portrayed Haji family, Morais engulfs the reader in Hassan’s wondrous world of discovery. Regardless of one’s relationship with food, this novel will spark the desire to wield a whisk or maybe just a knife and fork.
Publishers Weekly
This novel, of mythic proportions yet told with truly heartfelt realism, is a stunning tribute to the devotion of family and food. Bound to please anyone who has ever been happily coaxed to eat beyond the point of fullness, overwhelmed by the magnetism of "just one more bite."
Booklist
Precise descriptive writing offers much to savor in this bouillabaisse of a first novel....it's the story of a Muslim boy born in Mumbai who grows up to achieve great fame in the rarefied world of French cuisine.... Will this book eventually become a Merchant-Ivory film, laden with choice roles for Indian actors and featuring (a no-brainer, this) Meryl Streep?
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The title of the novel is The Hundred-Foot Journey. Discuss the title in relation to where Hassan started and where he ends up—in both the geographic and the psychological senses. Ultimately, which journey do you feel was more important? To which other characters might the title apply, and in what ways? Even characters like Madame Mallory who never leave home are somehow transformed through the course of the novel. Discuss how Hassan’s transformation is different or similar to that of other characters in the book.
2. The Haji family first settles in London before embarking on a whirlwind journey across Europe and eventually settling in Lumière. Discuss Hassan’s time in London. How did his stay there influence his later life? Why do you think Abbas eventually decided his family needed to move on?
3. After Hassan’s hands are burned, Madame Mallory, alone in a small chapel, thinks about her life while staring at the chapel’s fresco: “And in the depths of those glinting little eyes she sees the balance sheet of her life, an endless list of credits and debits, of accomplishments and failures, small acts of kindness and real acts of cruelty” (p. 120). Do you see life in the same terms, as a balance sheet of how we act and what we achieve? Do you think her offer to teach Hassan is a true act of kindness, or because she felt she owed the universe a great debt? Or some combination of both?
4. While Hassan’s father undoubtedly plays an important role in his son’s life, Hassan is strongly influenced by the women around him. Consider his grandmother, his mother, Madame Mallory, Margaret, and even his sister Mehtab. What does he learn from each of these women at various points throughout the novel, both in the kitchen and otherwise?
5. Choose one adjective you think best sums up the character of Hassan and share it with the group. Were you surprised by how others in your group perceived him? What are his strengths and his weaknesses? How is your perception of his character altered throughout the story?
6. Madame Mallory says to Hassan, “Good taste is not the birthright of snobs, but a gift from God sometimes found in the most unlikely of places and in the unlikeliest of people” (p. 235). What do you think about this statement and the particular way she phrases it?
7. Chef Tom Colicchio said that “in The Hundred-Foot Journey, food isn’t just a theme, it’s a main character.” Do you agree? Discuss the relationships between the characters and the food described in the book. How does this novel illustrate the old adage that “you are what you eat”?
8. Did Hassan’s decision to move to Paris, and eventually open a French restaurant, surprise you? Why or why not? Do you feel his experiences in Mumbai—in the kitchen of his family’s restaurant and exploring the city with his mother—were influential in his later work? How?
9. “It was shortly thereafter, sitting in the bathtub, drinking a tea spiked with garam masala and dripping with sweat, all the while thinking of my father, that the name of the new restaurant suddenly came to me” (p. 166). Look up the meaning of “Le Chien Méchant” and discuss its significance as the name of Hassan’s restaurant. Compare it to the other restaurants named in the book, such as Paul Verdun’s Le Coq d’Or, Madame Mallory’s Le Saule Pleureur, or even the Hassan family’s Maison Mumbai. How much (or how little) can be told about each character from the name of their restaurant?
10. In reworking the menu of Le Chien Méchant, Hassan tells his staff to “go back to your hometowns, back to your roots across France” (p. 204). Do you think that, until this point, he had forgotten the importance of home and family, of roots and past experiences, in his journey to become the best chef he could be?
11. Later, Hassan walks by a small, hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant in Paris and stands at the window for a while. As he leaves, he reflects, “I took one longing last look at Madras...leaving behind the intoxicating smells of machli ka salan, an olfactory wisp of who I was, fading fast in the Parisian night” (p. 235). Do you feel this passage is symbolic as well as literal? Did Hassan have to leave behind a part of who he was to keep moving forward? Do you think this was a choice he consciously made? Do you agree with his choice? What did Hassan gain and what did he lose in his journey?
12. In the elite world of haute cuisine, what are the costs of rising to the top? Discuss this idea in relation to Madame Mallory and Paul Verdun, and then to Hassan and his family. Do you think the sacrifices were worth the successes? Do you think that all artists are forced to give up something incredibly vital in pursuit of their passions? Did Hassan manage to avoid the trap of his mentors? (Questions issued by the publisher.)
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Leaving Time
Jodi Picoult, 2014
Random House
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345544926
Summary
Throughout her blockbuster career, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult has seamlessly blended nuanced characters, riveting plots, and rich prose, brilliantly creating stories that “not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us” (The Boston Globe). Now, in her highly anticipated new book, she has delivered her most affecting novel yet—and one unlike anything she’s written before.
For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.
Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest. The first is Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons—only to later doubt her gifts. The second is Virgil Stanhope, a jaded private detective who originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers.
As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 19, 1966
• Where—Nesconset (Long Island), New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Princeton University; M.Ed., Harvard University
• Currently—lives in Hanover, New Hampshire
Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American author. She was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003. Picoult currently has approximately 14 million copies of her books in print worldwide.
Early life and education
Picoult was born and raised in Nesconset on Long Island in New York State; when she was 13, her family moved to New Hampshire. Even as a child, Picoult had a penchant for writing stories: she wrote her first story— "The Lobster Which Misunderstood"—when she was five.
While still in college—she studied writing at Princeton University—Picoult published two short stories in Seventeen magazine. To pay the bills, after graduation she worked at a variety of jobs, including copy writing and editing textbooks; she even taught eighth-grade English and attained a Masters in Education from Harvard University.
In 1989, Picoult married Timothy Warren Van Leer, whom she met in college, and while pregnant with their first child, wrote her first book. Song of the Humpbacked Whale, her literary debut, came out in 1992. Two more children followed, as did a string of bestseller novels. All told, Picoult has more than 20 books to her name.
Writing
At an earlier time in her life, Picoult believed the tranquility of family life in small-town New England offered little fodder for writing; the truly interesting stuff of fiction happened elsewhere. Ironically, it is small-town life that has ended up providing the settings for Picoult's novels. Within the cozy surroundings of family and friends, Picoult weaves complex webs of relationships that strain, even tear apart, under stress. She excels at portraying ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Disoriented by some accident of chance, they stumble, whirl, and attempt to regain a footing in what was once their calm, ordered world.
Nor has Picoult ever shied from tackling difficult, controversial issues: school shooting, domestic violence, sexual abuse, teen suicide, and racism. She approaches painful topics with sympathy—and her characters with respect—while shining a light on individual struggles. Her legions of readers have loved and rewarded her for that compassion—and her novels have been consistent bestsellers.
Personal life
Picoult and her husband Timothy live in Hanover, New Hampshire. They have three children and a handful of pets. (Adapted from a 2003 Barnes and Noble interview and from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/28/2016.)
Book Reviews
Longtime fans of Picoult will recognize some of her stock characters—the precocious, sassy teenager; the distant, philosophical mother; the curmudgeonly surrogate father figure—as well the her trademark twist ending, which may well be her strangest to date. When she diverges from her usual formula her storytelling skills are most evident.
Publishers Weekly
[The] heroine...voice, combined with Picoult’s fascinating research on elephants and their behavior, adds layers to the narrative’s complexity. At the end, readers will be stunned and satisfied, as the surprise is indeed a well-kept secret.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Despite their different backgrounds, Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil form a sort of unconventional family together. What do you think brings them together? Have you ever had a similar experience of finding support from an unlikely source?
2. Alice says that 98 percent of science is quantifiable, leaving 2 percent “that can’t be measured or explained. And yet that does not mean it doesn’t exist.” (p. 392) Do you agree or disagree? Can you think of examples from the book or from your own experience of something that fits into that 2 percent?
3. Virgil grapples with helping Jenna when he suspects discovering the truth might be more painful to her than never knowing. Have you ever been in a situation where you knew a truth that it might hurt someone to hear? What did you do?
4. Serenity’s fake psychic readings are successful, she says, because people look for sense in the nonsensical. Do you agree or disagree? If a psychic reading brings someone comfort or helps them grieve, do you think it matters if the message is faked?
5. Jenna meets up with another character at the very end of the book. (pp. 394–395) Were you surprised to see who that was? Why or why not?
6. Alice describes some amazing examples of elephants appearing to exhibit grief and empathy, which are drawn from real–life research. Discuss some of the ways elephant grief is depicted. How is it the same as human mourning? How is it different?
7. One of the major themes of Leaving Time is loss and how to cope with it. Discuss some of the ways the characters in this novel deal with their losses. Do you identify with any of these coping mechanisms more than others? How do you approach loss?
8. Do you think Thomas’s erratic and upsetting behavior justifies Alice’s affair with Gideon? What would you have done in Alice’s place?
9. Jenna compares her search for her mother to Captain Ahab’s search for the whale in Moby-Dick, or Javert hunting Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, saying they are all three defined by their search. Do you agree with this assessment? Have you ever felt defined in this way by something you wanted?
10. Why do you think Serenity loses her gift? And why do you think Jenna is able to help bring it back?
11. Do you believe in ghosts? If you could communicate with anyone who has passed away, who would it be?
12. Discuss the significance of the title Leaving Time. What is the literal meaning that Jenna ascribes to the phrase as a baby? What are some other ways the title could be interpreted?
13. “Negative moments get remembered. Traumatic ones get forgotten.” (p. 12) What do you think this means? Do you agree or disagree? Have you ever experienced something and discovered later that someone else remembers it completely differently?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Alive at 5
Linda Bond, 2014
CreateSpace
298 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781500408190
Summary
TV news reporter Samantha Steele is one panic attack away from losing her job. Future on the line, she sets up an easy feature story—following her mentor on an exhilarating adventure vacation. When her mentor dies while skydiving, Samantha suspects he was murdered, and her investigative instincts lead her to gorgeous thrill-seeker Zack Hunter.
Zack is an undercover police officer investigating his uncle’s death through the same adventure vacation. Zack doesn't want Samantha investigating alongside him. The emotionally wounded loner is afraid of being responsible for a partner again, especially a journalist whose goal is to splash evidence all over the evening news. But the striking reporter’s persistence is quite a turn-on, and Zack’s overpowering desire makes it harder for him to push her away.
When the killer turns his attention to Zack, Samantha could be the only one who can save him, forcing the anxiety-riddled correspondent to finally face her greatest fear. (From the publisher.)
Watch the video.
Author Bio
• Birth—December 29. 1966
• Where—San Francisco, California, USA
• Raised—Greenville, South Carolina
• Education—B.A., University of Georgia
• Currently—lives in Lutz, Florida
Author Linda Bond was born in San Francisco, California but spent most of her life in the south, attending middle and high school in Greenville, South Carolina and college at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
She’s worked as a television news reporter and anchor in Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa Florida. For the past fifteen years, she’s been a health reporter in Tampa, sharing important information with viewers on the latest medical breakthroughs and writing emotional, human-interest stories on those who have the courage and spirit to fight for their lives.
She writes every day, under deadline, but has always loved losing herself in a good fiction story. Her love for writing fiction actually started in high school, but a thriving, busy professional life, along with five kids kept her busy for many years.
Entangled Publishing has released her debut romantic adventure, Alive at 5, on July 2014.
She has received numerous writing awards in Romance Writer’s of America chapter contests for Alive at 5 and her other manuscripts Cuba Undercover and Glory, Glory the Majorettes are 40.
She has also won 12 Emmy awards, numerous Society of Professional Journalist, and Associated Press awards, as well as a Florida Bar award and Edward R. Murrow award.
This former baton-twirling beauty queen from the Deep South, now lives in Tampa Florida with her husband, adopted son from Cuba, two daughters and one stubborn Bulldog named Sanford. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Linda on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Alive at 5 is a thrilling, can't-get-enough story that kept me glued to my Kindle screen on holiday. (Five stars.)
Bookalot
Fast Paced and Kept Me Guessing!” (Five stars.)
Rochelle Weber – Editor, Romance Writer’s Newsletter
Alive at 5 grabbed me on the first page and held my attention all the way through. I truly did not know who did it or why until Sam and Zack figured it out, and regular readers know how rarely that happens.
Em & M Books
I highly recommend this one to any romantic suspense fans. The writing was a bit edgy and enhanced the feel of the story—you could actually feel yourself in the news story that was being investigated. All in all a great read!
Ramblings from This Chick
Samantha and Zach have an incredible chemistry. The mystery part of the story was fantastic. Truth was I had absolutely no idea who it was until the big reveal. None.
She Hearts Books
A must read. Perfect for the beach. Was hooked after the first chapter. Looking forward to more great reads by Linda Bond! (Five stars.)
Susan H. - Amazon customer review
There are actually points in the book where it’s so realistic that you can picture yourself doing or feeling what the characters are doing or feeling. (Five stars.)
Becky S. Andrade - Amazon customer review:
Discussion Questions
1. Samantha Steele is a TV reporter suffering panic attacks and freezing up whenever she has to go live on TV. When a friend, whose adventure vacation she is covering as an easy assignment, dies, she has to put her emotions aside and try to report his death live on the news. How do you feel about that emotional and professional conflict? What would you have done?
2. At first, Samantha sees Zack Hunter as a cocky, thrill-seeking playboy, exactly the kind of man she promised herself she’d stay away from. What changes her mind about Zack?
3. Both main characters are running from themselves and their own personal issues. Samantha is trying to survive by holding on tight and controlling everything around her. Zack is trying to expel his guilt by chasing death and doing high-risk, life endangering adventures. Which are you more like? The control freak or the reckless adventurer? And why?
4. The theme of this book is “you have to face your fears to move on and grow both in life and in love.” Share one example of how you had to do that in your life.
5. Do you read for the happy ending of a romance novel, whether it’s romantic suspense like Alive at 5 or a young adult novel or a novel with paranormal elements like Twilight? Why or why not?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty, 2014
Amy Einhorn/Putnam
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425274866
Summary
Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. A murder … a tragic accident … or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what?
Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:
Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).
Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.
New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.
Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. (From the publisher.)
See the 2017 TV miniseries with Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.
Listen to our Movies Meet Book Club Podcast as Hollister and O'Toole discuss the miniseries and book.
Author Bio
• Birth—November 1966
• Where—Sydney, Australia
• Education—M.A., Macquarie University
• Currently—lives in Sydney
Liane Moriarty is an Australian author and sister of author Jaclyn Moriarty. In its review of her 2013 novel, The Husband's Secret, she was referred to as "an edgier, more provocative and bolder successor to Maeve Binchy" by Kirkus Reviews.
Moriarty began work in advertising and marketing at a legal publishing company. She then ran her own company for a while before taking work as a freelance advertising copywriter. In 2004, after obtaining a Master's degree at Macquarie University in Sydney, her first novel Three Wishes, written as part of the degree, was published.
She is now the author of several other novels, including The Last Anniversary (2006) and What Alice Forgot (2010), The Hypnotist's Love Story (2011), The Husband's Secret (2013), and Big Little Lies (2014). She is also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children.
Moriarty lives in Sydney with her husband and two children. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/5/2013.)
Book Reviews
If you're looking for a novel that will turn you into a compulsive book-finisher look no further. Moriarty has produced another gripping, satirical hit…. It’s can’t-put-downability comes from its darker subplots… A book that will make you appreciate the long days of summer.
Oprah.com
A surefire hit.... The Aussie author of last year’s runaway hit The Husband’s Secret comes back with another winning and wise novel that intertwines the lives of three women.
Entertainment Weekly
What's worse than a terrible riot at Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night that leaves one parent dead? The sneaking suspicion that the death was actually murder.... Moriarty...[visits] issues of parenting, divorce, and shattered families in shuttered suburbia.
Library Journal
[D]arkly comic mystery surrounding a disastrous parents' night at an elementary school fundraiser.... [after which] the truth remains tantalizingly difficult to sort out. Deservedly popular Moriarty invigorates the tired social-issue formula of women’s fiction through wit, good humor, sharp insight into human nature and addictive storytelling.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the novel, Madeline is enraged over Ziggy not being invited to Amabella’s birthday party. Why do you think Madeline becomes so angry about such a seemingly small injustice? Do you think Madeline is the kind of person who just looks for a fight, or do you think she was justified in feeling so upset? And do you think that by tackling both ends of the spectrum —from schoolyard bullying and parents behaving badly in the playground to displays of domestic violence in all its incarnations—that the author is trying to say something about the bullying that happens out in the open every day?
2. There is a lot of discussion about women and their looks. On the beach Jane’s mom shows that she has rather poor body image. Jane observes that women over 40 are constantly talking about their age. And Madeline says, "She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, just how much the aging of her face really did genuinely depress her. She wanted to be above such superficial concerns. She wanted to be depressed about the state of the world…." [p. 82] Do you think this obsession with looks is specific to women, particularly women of a certain age? Why or why not?
3. There are a lot of scenes in which the characters say they wish they could be violent: Jane says she wants to throw Ziggy into the wall when he has a tirade in the bathtub, that she would hit Renata if she was in front of her, and then she stops just short of kicking Harper. Do you think the author is trying to show the reader Perry’s side and have us sympathize with him? Or, rather, that feeling violent is a natural impulse but one that people learn to suppress?
4. When Ziggy has to do his family tree, Madeline comments, "Why try to slot fractured families into neat little boxes in this day and age?" [p. 184] A lot of Madeline’s storyline is about the complications that arise from the merging of new modern families. What kind of problems exist among families and extended families now that didn’t when you were a child?
5. When Jane recounts what happened the night she got pregnant, she focuses on what the man said rather than on what he did. Why does Jane feel more violated by two words—fat and ugly—than by the actual assault? Jane seems to think the answer is "Because we live in a beauty-obsessed society where the most important thing a woman can do is make herself attractive to men." [p. 196] Do you agree?
6. The power of secrets is a theme throughout the novel. Jane remembers, "She hadn’t told anyone. She’d swallowed it whole and pretended it meant nothing, and therefore it had come to mean everything." [p. 220] Do you think this is a universal truth, that the more you keep something secret, the more power it takes on?
7. Gwen, the babysitter, seems to be the only one to suspect what is going on with Celeste and Perry. Celeste then realizes she’s never heard Gwen talk about a husband or a partner. Do you think the author intended to intimate that perhaps Gwen had had an abusive husband or partner and that she left him? And in light of what happens at the end with Bonnie, do you think it’s only people who have personally experienced abuse who pick up on the signs?
8. At one point Jane thinks she and Ziggy will have to leave Pirriwee because "rich, beautiful people weren’t asked to leave anywhere." [p. 362] Do you think different rules apply to rich people? Do you think being rich allowed Perry to get away with things longer than would have been likely if he hadn’t had money?
9. Bonnie says, "We see. We fucking see!" [p. 421] Were you surprised to learn about Bonnie’s history? Were you surprised to discover that all along Max had been seeing what Perry was doing to Celeste?
10. What did you make of the interview snippets to the reporter? Do you think the author used them almost like a Greek chorus to make a point?
11. Madeline muses, "Maybe it was actually an unspoken instant agreement between four women on the balcony: No woman should pay for the accidental death of that particular man. Maybe it was an involuntary, atavistic response to thousands of years of violence against women. Maybe it was for every rape, every brutal backhanded slap, every other Perry that had come before this one." [p. 430] And then Madeline thinks, "Sometimes doing the wrong thing was also right." Do you agree with this statement? Do you agree with what the women decided to do? Do you think there’s a stronger bond between women than there is between men? Were you surprised that women who ostensibly didn’t like one another—Madeline and Bonnie, Madeline and Renata—ended up coming together to help one another out?
12. At one point in the book, Susi says that, in Australia, one woman dies every week because of domestic violence. In the United States, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. Every nine seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than that caused by car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Are you surprised by these statistics? Why or why not? Clearly, the author chose Celeste—the picture-perfect mom and/ wife as well as an educated lawyer—to be the victim of domestic violence in order to make a point. Do you think it’s plausible that someone like her would fall victim to abuse such as this?
13. Madeline comments that "there were so many levels of evil in the world." [p. 433] Discuss the implications of this statement in light of the novel and the novel’s different storylines.
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Hooker's Daughter: A Boston Family's Saga
Dale Stanten, 2011
Infinity Publishing
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 978074146402
Summary
It’s been called the "oldest profession in the world." I call it everyday life.
My mother is a hooker who turns tricks in our tiny apartment. At six years old, I shudder every time the doorbell rings and rings and rings.
In our tight-knit Jewish community, my family’s behavior is not welcomed. While my mother runs her "business," my father behaves like an ostrich with his head in the sand. He barely functions. My sister, a lesbian in an era when being gay is reprehensible, is placed into a convent and then sent to a mental institution. And there is shoplifting, scamming checks, and a stolen car ring using the rabbi’s garage.
I strut through my teenage years with a display of arrogant posturing designed to conceal the internal angst of isolation, loneliness, and fear of following in my mother’s footsteps.
My fantasy is to have a cookie-cutter life. I find my life’s mate, marry, become the perfect wife and mother, yet, in my secret heart, I am still out of step. The cookie crumbles when my husband is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. He becomes blind and suffers six grueling years. As he struggles, I struggle to keep it all together. I cry for all of us.
The Hooker’s Daughter is a memoir of a life dictated by shame and discontent. It traces the path of a young woman from childhood, through bewildered adolescence, to wife, mother, widow, and successful entrepreneur. The story is about trauma, survival, and triumph.
Author Bio
• Birth—June 20, 1043
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—RN, Lynn Hospital School of Nursing
• Currently—lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and Phoenix, Arizona
While raising her young family, Dale Stanten obtained her RN degree and practiced psychiatric nursing. She parlayed her medical and extensive sales experience to become CEO of her Destination Management Company which for twenty years organized conventions, corporate events, and meetings for local, national, and international guests. Dale conducted numerous educational seminars and assisted in developing a tourism college degree program.
Dale serves on the North Shore Board of Juvenile Scholarship Aid, volunteered as a Big Sister, and is an active member of Power of Women, National Association of Women on the Rise, and The Arizona Humanities Consortium for the Arts. A life-long learner, she studies Kabbalah and Torah and shares her personal journey to encourage others to rise above their circumstances, no matter how difficult, using their inner strength to determine the course of their own lives. Dale resides in Boston and Phoenix with her husband. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
Her story is about how to conquer challenges beyond those that have been made socially acceptable by society. The book is a study in human relations and emotions...Loved It. A Must Read!
Debolina Raja Gupta - BookPleasures.com
This is an engaging well-written and spectacular book and can definitely be an inspiration to those that read it. A Great Story!
Joyce Oscar - BookPleasures.com
This book does indeed get 5 stars from me. I feel like it’s a story many need to read because it shows us how our choices affect others and how others choices affect us. There are very few people who wouldn’t be affected by this book in a good way.
Katie Hal - You Brew My Tea
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think that Dale turned out to be a successful entrepreneur, given her very traumatic childhood? How much do you think is genetic (nature) verses environment and relationships with other people (nurture)?
2. Do you think there are life lessons to be learned from Dale’s dramatic life story?
3. Describe Bubbbe’s unusual behavior. How do you think it affected Mae’s life?
4. Considering the family dynamics, what challenger did the two sisters face?
5. How did Dale overcome the challenges she faced being the daughter of a hooker?
6. In the 50’s and 60’s why was being a hooker more acceptable than being gay?
7. What does the book tell us about "sister bonds?"
8. What character traits—both good and bad—do you think Dale learned from her parents and how do you think those traits shaped her life?
9. From both Mae’s and Art’s viewpoint why did their relationship survive?
10. What makes a survivor?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)