As Close to Us as Breathing
Elizabeth Poliner, 2016
Little, Brown & Co.
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316384148
Summary
A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones).
In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal.
During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair.
But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed.
Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others?
Elizabeth Poliner is a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human nature, and in As Close to Us as Breathing she has created an unforgettable meditation on grief, guilt, and the boundaries of identity and love (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1960
• Where—Middletown, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Bowdin College; J.D., University of Virginia; M.F.A. American University
• Currently—teaches at Hollis University in Roanoke, Virginia
Elizabeth Poliner is the author of the novels As Close to Us as Breathing (2016) and Mutual Life & Casualty (2005). She has also published two collections of poetry: Sudden Fog (2011) and What You Know in Your Hands (2015).
Her stories and poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Colorado Review, Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, and many other journals. A recipient of seven individual artist grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, she has also been awarded fiction scholarships to the Bread Loaf and Sewanee writers' conferences. She teaches creative writing at Hollins University (From the publishser.)
Book Reviews
[A]n exquisitely written investigation of grief and atonement, and an elegy for a Jewish family bound together by tradition and tribe.
Publishers Weekly
Poliner demonstrates how a tragic accident shatters...families.... This elegant novel is for readers who enjoy the depiction of complicated family dynamics and those who believe that people will be able to overcome tragic events. —Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Molly's coming-of-age is the delicate connective tissue that binds together the novel's chronologically fragmented episodes.... Beautifully written, stringently unsentimental, and yet tender in its empathy for the perennial human conflict between service and self.
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.)
Bull Mountain
Brian Panowich, 2015
Penguin Group
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425282281
Summary
Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws.
For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family’s criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can.
But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton’s office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.
In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, the novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of the mountain and its inhabitants: forbidding, loyal, gritty, and ruthless. A story of family—the lengths men will go to protect it, honor it, or in some cases destroy it—Bull Mountain is an incredibly assured debut that heralds a major new talent in fiction. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1971-72
• Where—Fort Dix, New Jersey
• Raised—in Europe; East Georgia, USA
• Education— Georgia Southern University (no degree)
• Currently—lives in East Georgia
Brian is the author of Bull Mountain, a southern crime saga published in 2015. He has several stories available in print and online collections. Two of his stories, "If I Ever Get Off This Mountain" and "Coming Down The Mountain", were nominated for a Spinetingler award in 2013. He is currently a firefighter in East Georgia, living with his wife and four children. Bull Mountain is his first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[Brian Panowich] pulls off [a] daunting undertaking with astounding success.... The storytelling is mesmerizing, with virtually every chapter set in a different timeline and focused on a single character, but the sense of immediacy carries over into each era. And while the violence is shocking in its coldhearted brutality, it’s as aesthetically choreographed as any ballet.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
Panowich has crafted a satisfying and smartly constructed book whose time-shifting sequences build suspense even as they parcel out telling revelations. Once events are in full play, there’s no turning back.
Wall Street Journal
[Panowich storms] onto the scene with an epic southern tale that establishes him as a new voice for southern writers.... An unabashed literary page-turner, Bull Mountain, takes readers along for a ride full of well timed twists and turns, and the shocking family secret that causes the inevitable climax....one of the best multi-generational family sagas in years.
Huffington Post
You’d be hard pressed to believe Bull Mountain is the work of a debut author. What Panowich puts together is more than a history of family, but a chronology of the violence perpetrated for nearly a century in maintaining an empire built on bootleg hooch and drugs—not in the name of power, women, or money, but of home.... Panowich’s Southern grit is stubborn and gets into every crevice..... [H]e tears apart the hardened, Southern man so popular in rural noir. Even more, he does so while maintaining that those characters have a moral, human center.
Los Angeles Review of Books
A brilliant debut novel....extraordinary.
Atlanta Magazine
Prose as punchy as rapid-aged whiskey.
Esquire
Part Dashiell Hammett, part Hamlet.... The story of a familial criminal empire embedded in the mountains of North Georgia, [Bull Mountain] is a book that never lets a complicated plot and structure get in the way of what, I believe, is Panowich’s greatest gift—the ability to build layered, authentic characters and the world in which they live.... Graceful prose, compelling characters, and a true sense of place [make this] gripping reading.
Augusta Chronicle
The author delivers characters with depth, a lushly described setting, and an intergenerational battle between good and evil. After many twists and turns, the story ends with a welcome surprise.... His book...brings the landscape and culture of rural Appalachia to life.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Dazzling.... Panowich tells his story in lengthy, nicely worked chapters reminiscent of John Steinbeck.... Both write in a flowing, textured, understated style that is such a pleasure to read we don’t realize we’re being set up for a series of uppercuts. They come in revelations accompanied by gunfire.
Booklist
Hillbilly noir goes literary in Panowich's debut, which is part crime fiction and part family saga.... Panowich deftly delves into "something deeper than bone" between fathers and sons, between the land and its people.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel begins with the word "family," and the powerful scenes that follow signal the importance of familial bonds—and rifts—in this novel. Discuss the role of family in the story. To which characters is it most important? Is family defined by blood or by something else?
2. There are two key female protagonists in the novel: Kate and Marion. What did you think of these two women? What were their most distinctive characteristics? How does each disrupt the balance of the Burroughs family?
3. Consider the narrative structure of Bull Mountain, which is told in chapters that alternate between characters and time periods. Why do you think the author chose to tell the story in this way? Did the structure enhance any particular part of the story for you (e.g., the suspense, characterization)?
4. Clayton Burroughs and Simon Holly have more in common than initially meets the eye, but they’re also very different men who choose divergent paths. What drove each man? Why did each make the choices he made, for good or for ill?
5. Brian Panowich brings to the novel a strong sense of place, and Bull Mountain becomes a character in itself, a dynamic setting that means different things to different people. What role does it play? What does the mountain mean to Clayton? What about to Kate, Simon, or Halford?
6. Clayton and Kate have the most functional romantic relationship in the novel, and yet even they have big ups and downs. How would you describe their marriage? How has being with Kate changed Clayton, and vice versa? To what extent does Clayton’s family influence their relationship?
7. In addition to the main characters, the novel is peppered with a rich and colorful cast of people, such as Bracken, Val, Scabby Mike, Choctaw, Cricket, and others. Which secondary character was your favorite, and why? Did any stand out to you for the humor or depth they brought to the narrative?
8. Through the course of the novel, several characters pursue a course of vengeance. How is revenge depicted in the novel? Is it worth it? Is it ever just? How is it different for each character?
9. Bull Mountain contains elements of crime fiction, family saga, and Southern gothic. How would you categorize the novel? What fiction might it be compared to?
10. What did you think of the ending? Were you surprised?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Youngblood
Matt Gallagher, 2016
Atria Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501105746
Summary
The US military is preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and newly-minted lieutenant Jack Porter struggles to accept how it’s happening—through alliances with warlords who have Arab and American blood on their hands.
Day after day, Jack tries to assert his leadership in the sweltering, dreary atmosphere of Ashuriyah.
But his world is disrupted by the arrival of veteran Sergeant Daniel Chambers, whose aggressive style threatens to undermine the fragile peace that the troops have worked hard to establish.
As Iraq plunges back into chaos and bloodshed and Chambers’s influence over the men grows stronger, Jack becomes obsessed with a strange, tragic tale of reckless love between a lost American soldier and Rana, a local sheikh’s daughter.
In search of the truth and buoyed by the knowledge that what he finds may implicate Sergeant Chambers, Jack seeks answers from the enigmatic Rana, and soon their fates become intertwined. Determined to secure a better future for Rana and a legitimate and lasting peace for her country, Jack will defy American command, putting his own future in grave peril.
Pulling readers into the captivating immediacy of a conflict that can shift from drudgery to devastation at any moment, Youngblood provides startling new dimension to both the moral complexity of war and its psychological toll. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1983
• Where—Reno, Nevada, USA
• Education—B.A., Wake Forest University; M.F.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City
Matt Gallagher is an American author, former U.S. Army captain, and veteran of the Iraq War. He has written on a variety of subjects, mainly contemporary warfare, becoming widely known for his 2010 memoir Kaboom, an account of his platoon's experiences during the Iraq War. His debut novel Youngblood, also set in Iraq, was released in 2016.
Background and education
Gallagher was born in Reno, Nevada, to attorneys Deborah Scott Gallagher and Dennis Gallagher. He and his brother Luke attended Brookfield School and Bishop Manogue High School, where Matt edited the school newspaper and ran cross country and track. He graduated in 2001.
Gallagher went on to Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He joined Army ROTC the week before 9/11, and decided to honor this commitment after the September 11 attacks. While at Wake Forest, Gallagher served as the sports editor of the Old Gold & Black. He graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, commissioning into the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant in the Armor Branch.
Military service
Gallagher trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he attended and graduated the Armor Officer Basic Course and Army Reconnaissance Course. He was subsequently assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He deployed with this unit in 2007 as a scout platoon leader with 2-14 Cavalry to Saba al-Bor, a sectarian village northwest of Baghdad.
He was promoted to the rank of captain in July 2008, and was then reassigned to 1-27 Infantry, part of the famed 27th Infantry Regiment, where he served as a targeting officer. He and his unit returned to Schofield Barracks in February 2009, and Gallagher left the Army later that year. He earned the Combat Action Badge during his deployment to Iraq.
Kaboom blog
While deployed to Iraq, Gallagher wrote about his front-line experiences there on a military blog—Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal—which ran from November 2007 to June 2008. Using the pseudonym of LT G, Gallagher offered a brash and brutally honest perspective of modern warfare. The blog was widely read by the national media before being shut down by the writer's military chain-of-command after Gallagher wrote a post detailing his rejection of a promotion in an effort to stay with his soldiers.
Books and other writings
After leaving the Army, Gallagher moved to New York City and wrote his war memoir, Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, which was published in 2010 and garnered significant praise by both New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among others.
In 2016 Gallagher's first novel, Youngblood, was published. Like Kaboom it, too, received wide acclaim in the national media and has been compared to Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and other classic war literature.
Gallagher also co-edited, with Roy Scranton, Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War (2013), an anthology of literary fiction by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition to his books, Gallagher has also written for a number of magazines and reviews, including The Atlantic, Boston Review, New York Times and Wired.
Other
In 2013 Gallagher attained an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He works at Words After War, a literary nonprofit devoted to bringing veterans and civilians together to study conflict literature—and has appeared on PBS NewsHour in this capacity.
In early 2015, Gallagher was featured in Vanity Fair alongside Elliot Ackerman, Maurice Decaul, Phil Klay, Kevin Powers and Brandon Willitts, as the voices of a new generation of American war literature. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 3/7/2016.)
Book Reviews
[P]rovides a visceral sense of what young American soldiers experienced during their Iraq deployments—the camaraderie, the fear, the exhaustion and boredom, and the sheer discomfort of being encased in 60 pounds of body armor…in triple-digit heat while keeping an eye out for snipers and roadside bombs…. Mr. Gallagher…writes here with the same verve and humor that made Kaboom such an engaging [memoir], but the story he tells in Youngblood is a tragic one…Mr. Gallagher has a keen reportorial eye, a distinctive voice and an instinctive sympathy for the people he is writing about, and he uses those gifts here to immerse us in his characters's lives. Jack…insinuates himself immediately in the reader's mind, as does his interpreter, Qasim…The Iraqi characters…step briskly off these pages…Mr. Gallagher leaves us with an appreciation of how war and occupation have affected Iraqi families for generations, and how the losses incurred after the 2003 American invasion remain day-to-day realities for the people who live there. With Youngblood, he has written an urgent and deeply moving novel.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
Showcases the manifold strengths of the author's writing, most prominently a gift for evoking the feel of contemporary soldiering in faraway places.... Evocative and [written with] stirring sympathyfor and surprising friendship with local civilians and soldiers.
Wall Street Journal
While [Gallagher's] nonfiction was visceral, immediate and reportorial, his fiction transforms direct experience into something more layered and complex. Gallagher’s voice is vital, literary and sometimes lyrical...smart, fierce and important.
Washington Post
A vivid and introspective chronicle of Gallagher’s fifteen months in Iraq…. Its aim is simple: to explain what it is like to wage an unconventional war…. Unlike a journalist, whose Heisenberg-like presence inevitably distorts, Gallagher is able to candidly depict the lighter moments of war…. Evocative prose, convincing dialogue, and, especially, telling vignettes of life as an American soldier in Iraq.
New Republic
A powerful fiction debut…a gritty, tragic, realistic look inside the failures of America's invasion and occupation of Iraq told by someone who lived it.
Huffington Post
As funny as it is harrowing.
Entertainment Weekly
[A]bout the futility of keeping the peace in Iraq, where it seems almost impossible to identify friend from foe. [Gallagher] imbues the struggle between Porter and Chambers with a moral heft while never reducing these two powerful characters to mere symbols of a military mission gone terribly wrong.
Publishers Weekly
Never have more veterans expressed the full depth of their war experience by turning to writing, and former U.S. Army captain Gallagher joins their ranks with this debut novel. Even as he anguishes over the U.S. military's cooperation with bloody warlords...Lt. Jack Porter breaks all the rules to help a local sheik's daughter.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Gallagher’s riveting combination of gritty military jargon, sharply drawn characters, and suspenseful story line adds up to one of the best modern war novels since Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam classic, The Things They Carried (1990). Highly recommended.
Booklist
(Starred review.) A complex tale about the Iraq War, intrigue, love, and survival.... A fresh twist on the Iraq War novel adds depth to this burgeoning genre.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Take a look at the epigraph, Stephen Crane’s "In the Desert." Why do you think the author chose to open the book with this poem? How does it set the tone? Discuss how the poem affected you before you began the story, and how your understanding and appreciation of it have changed since finishing the novel.
2. On pages 78 and 79, the American soldiers gather in the compound to witness a fight between a camel spider and a scorpion. Watching his soldiers, Lieutenant Porter thinks "I looked around and didn’t see jaded boredom anymore but something else" (p. 77). What is it that Porter sees? Why do you think he chooses not to stop the fight?
3. Consider the fight between the scorpion and the spider. What can you say about this moment in the novel, both as a storytelling device and for its significance within the plot? What is the author trying to say with this scene?
4. After the fight, when Porter, having lost the bet, stands with Alphabet and the other soldiers drift away telling one another to "be the scorpion," Porter thinks to himself: "I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d just lost something important, something that mattered, even if it was just a pretense of that something" (p. 80). What is the narrator referring to, and how does this shape his character both as an individual and with respect to the other characters?
5. The narrator recounts the story of his experience in training alongside his friend Randy Chiu, whom we later learn lost his legs in Afghanistan. Why does the narrator tell us this story? What is its significance in the greater context of the novel?
6. On page 135, when the Barbie Kid is detained for assaulting Chambers, Porter thinks: "Our grandfathers had pushed back the onslaught of fascism. Just what the fuck were we doing?" The narrator’s words are an interesting commentary on the evolution of American military identity, or at least the narrator’s perception of military purpose. Do you think it’s valid to assume that purpose in war is ever clearly defined, or is it more of a psychological mechanism?
7. Driving through the desert countryside outside of Ashuriyah on page 204, Porter thinks to himself:
This is the desert...free and true. I took a gulp of Rip It from the back hatch and breathed in baked air and laughed because it didn’t feel so strange anymore. None of it did.
What is this change that comes over Lieutenant Porter, and what causes it? Is it simply the passage of time, or do you think it’s triggered by a specific event?
8. At the beginning of Ramadan, the narrator says: "I fasted through the holy month, alone among the occupiers" (p. 215). Why do you think Porter chooses to fast? Do you believe there is irony in his use of "holy month" or "occupiers" here? How?
9. As the story progresses and Porter becomes more in touch with the local community, his thoughts on the war and his role in it start to shift. Discuss this transformation: Do you think his affection for Rana leads him to make excuses for people who would otherwise be considered dangerous? Or does his attitude stem from a more fundamental change in himself?
10. Elijah Rios, or Shaba, is a phantom presence throughout the novel, and as Porter digs deeper into the mystery surrounding his death, the true nature of his character is frequently called into question. What do you think of Shaba’s relationship with Rana? How would you define his relationship with Iraq? How do you distinguish the man that Rana knew from the one who fought alongside Chambers?
11. Do you think Porter’s dishonesty is justified in his attempt to help Rana and her sons, or does the crime involved negate the good intention behind the act? Is moral relativism symptomatic of war?
12. Do you believe that Rana and her sons made it to Beirut? Why or why not?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Hidden Bodies
Caroline Kepnes, 2016
Atria Books
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476785622
Summary
In the compulsively readable follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut novel, You, Caroline Kepnes weaves a tale that Booklist calls “the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman.”
Hidden Bodies marks the return of a voice that Stephen King described as original and hypnotic, and through the divisive and charmingly sociopathic character of Joe Goldberg, Kepnes satirizes and dissects our culture, blending suspense with scathing wit.
Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies.
In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.
In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor.
But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: truelove.
And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1977
• Where—Hyannis, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles
Caroline Kepnes is a native of Cape Cod and the author of many published short stories. After graduating from Brown University, Caroline moved to New York where she covered pop culture for Entertainment Weekly and Tiger Beat.
She also worked as a staff writer on the first season of ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Caroline’s second novel, Hidden Bodies, is the follow-up to her debut novel, You, which was optioned by Showtime.
Caroline now lives in Los Angeles, where she writes fiction, drinks artificially sweetened caffeinated beverages, and avoids freeways. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Caroline on Facebook.
Book Reviews
With Hidden Bodies, Caroline Kepnes delivers a more riveting, more chilling, more fascinating sophomore novel as our favorite sociopath Joe Goldberg takes on Hollywood… suspenseful, charming and unexpectedly poetic…With her singular style, endearing antihero and captivating social satire, Kepnes will leave you entirely satisfied and ready for more.
USA Today
Kepnes succeeds in convincing us to root for her insanely narcissistic yet strangely charming protagonist, and she is magnificent at satirising the collection of vacuous Hollywood wannabes that he encounters.
Guardian (UK)
Fifteen months ago, Kepnes published her first thriller, You, a debut so impressive that I suggested: "If you read only one thriller in 2015, make it this one." This sequel more than lives up to that and, even more excitingly, it extends the extraordinary story of the foul-mouthed, amoral, hyper-randy and intensely creepy bookstore assistant Joe Goldberg, who was the focus of the first book…. The nihilism of Los Angeles and the world of movies and music is superbly evoked…. But it is the character of the rampant Goldberg that casts a distinctive spell. There are hints of the great Patricia Highsmith in Kepnes’s story-telling and, like her, she never allows the tension to sag. Second thrillers are tricky to pull off, but this proves they can be done brilliantly.
Daily Mail (UK)
There’s something deeply insidious about the storytelling of Caroline Kepnes. As satire of a self-absorbed society, Kepnes hits the mark, cuts deep, and twists the knife.
Entertainment Weekly
Joe Goldberg, the narrator of Kepnes’s dark, quirky sequel to 2014’s You, is a serial killer who otherwise leads a normal life.... [In this second novel, he] undergoes a surprising personal transformation, and remarkably, the author convinces the reader to empathize with her killer protagonist.
Publishers Weekly
Kepnes received strong reviews when she debuted last year with You, featuring creepy antihero Joe Goldberg, dangerously obsessed with a woman who bought a book at the East Village bookstore where he works. In this sequel, Joe become equally obsessed with new bookstore employee Amy Adam.
Library Journal
The story reads like the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman but without the gore and misogyny, which means nothing stands in the way of the reader enjoying Joe’s cynical, murderous charm. Though it is a sequel to You (2014), Hidden Bodies may be even better on its own.
Booklist
Kepnes expertly tosses up roadblocks to keep her murderous antihero busy and the reader constantly guessing.... With its scathing social satire and loathsome yet strangely charming leading man, Kepnes' sophomore effort is well worth the read.
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. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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You
Caroline Kepnes, 2014
Atria Books
448 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476785608
Summary
From debut author Caroline Kepnes comes You, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, and a brilliant and terrifying novel for the social media age.
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.
There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.
As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.
A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1977
• Where—Hyannis, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Brown University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles
Caroline Kepnes is a native of Cape Cod and the author of many published short stories. After graduating from Brown University, Caroline moved to New York where she covered pop culture for Entertainment Weekly and Tiger Beat.
She also worked as a staff writer on the first season of ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Caroline’s second novel, Hidden Bodies, is the follow-up to her debut novel, You, which was optioned by Showtime.
Caroline now lives in Los Angeles, where she writes fiction, drinks artificially sweetened caffeinated beverages, and avoids freeways. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Caroline on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Both original and compelling. If you only read one new thriller this year, make it this one. It will stay with you long after you have put it down.
Geoffrey Wansell - Daily Mail (UK)
This is one of the most unsettling books I’ve read this year, but despite being thoroughly creeped out, I couldn’t put it down even for a second. It’s narrated by the villain, which makes for a rather unnerving read. I even found myself accidentally rooting for him as he was about to commit pretty heinous crimes. Whoops.
Bustle
If you liked GONE GIRL’S portrayal of a marriage in decline, the demented love story at the heart of YOU will have you gripped….This book will give you Stockholm syndrome.
Harpers Bazaar (UK)
A brilliant tale of obsessive love...it's Gone Girl meets a sinister version of Girls.
Marie Claire (UK)
You think you know the story: girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a murderous stalker. US journalist Kepnes' debut is a fantastically creepy thriller...the kind of book you put your life on hold for.
Glamour
A page turner...clever and chilling.
Elle (UK)
[S]eriously unsettling.... What’s most chilling about this novel, besides its plausibility, is the way in which Kepnes makes the reader empathize with Joe during the journey into his troubled mind. Her book will have readers looking over their shoulders.
Publishers Weekly
Kepnes certainly has the creepy factor down in her debut novel, taking readers deep into Joe's thoughts and feelings, to extremely suspenseful effect. And Joe is entirely believable as the stalker from hell.... [T]his will appeal to fans of psychological horror. —Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI
Library Journal
A deeply dark yet mesmerizing first novel of two people caught in a romantic tangle with an ever-tightening knot.
Booklist
Kepnes keeps the reader guessing on just how everything will implode. There's nothing romantic about Joe's preoccupation with Beck, but Kepnes puts the reader so deep into his head that delusions approach reality.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the structure of You. What’s the effect of hearing about Beck from Joe’s point of view? As you get to know Joe better, do you trust his narration? Why or why not?
2. Before Caroline Kepnes wrote You, she worked as a writer on several television series, including The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Seventh Heaven. How do you think Kepnes’s previous work influenced her writing? Did any of the scenes in You strike you as particularly cinematic? Which ones and why? Who would you cast in the roles of Beck and Joe?
3. Booklist called You “A deeply dark yet mesmerizing first novel of two people caught in a romantic tangle with an ever-tightening knot.” Discuss Beck and Joe’s relationship. What do you think they each saw in each other?
4. Of Benji, Chana says, “ You can buy him all the books in the world and he’s still gonna be Benji.” (p. 33) What does Chana mean by this statement? Did you think that Benji was a good friend to Beck? Explain your answer.
5. When Joe meets Beck he’s instantly smitten, not least because of her book choices. What books is Beck purchasing, and what does Joe think these selections say about her? What were your initial impressions of Beck? Did your opinion of her change? If so, why?
6. Joe is continuously self-conscious about his educational and personal background. How, if at all, does his lack of a college degree affect his narrative voice?
7. Beck tells her friend Peach that she loves the movie Magnolia. Peach tells her that the movie is flawed. When Joe attempts to bond with Beck over their shared love of the movie, she takes Peach’s position. Is Beck using her opinion to gain power or is she just young and figuring herself out?
8. When Joe escorts Beck to IKEA, he is disgruntled that it is not like it is in the movie (500) Days of Summer. This is one of several instances where Joe is upset by the disparities between real life and movies. Were there movies you wanted to see to enhance your reading experience of this book? And do you relate to Joe’s frustration at all?
9. Joe is devastated when he realizes that Beck was not reading The Da Vinci Code along with him. Discuss reading as a shared experience. Do you prefer to read alone or to share your progress on Goodreads?
10. In Karen Minty, Joe finds someone who is fully available. But she is not his dream girl. Do you think Joe would have been better off trying to make it work with Karen Minty?
11. Joe is frustrated that Beck can’t make it through an intimate date without tweeting about it. Joe monitors Beck through her online activity, but he does not participate in any of it. Both are extreme reactions to our increasingly connected lifestyle. How do you find balance in your own life?
12. Joe thinks of murder as an act of compassion, euthanasia for unhappy people. Joe interacts with the police on two separate occasions, but he is never arrested or charged. How does it feel to read a book with so much crime and so little punishment administered by the police?
13. Early readers and reviewers have said that reading You changes the way they think about talking to strangers and sharing information online. Did you change your passwords when you finished? Do you feel more wary of strangers, online or off?
14. In the end, Joe says that some people are destined to read a book in bed with a loved one and others are destined to be alone. Do you think this is true?
15. Joe feels that Benji is a better person because of his time in the cage. Throughout the book, Joe speaks well of his own time imprisoned in that cage. In the movie Ruthless People, Bette Midler’s character is kidnapped and she emerges as a stronger person. Discuss incarceration in storytelling. Did you ever hope that Joe would let Benji or Beck go?
16. How is New York a character in the book? Do you think it would be harder for Joe to follow Beck in a smaller town?
17. When you finished reading, did you hope that Joe might get away with murder and find love? Or do you like to think that somehow, someway, he will be held responsible for his actions?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)