Deceit and Other Possibilities: Stories
Vanessa Hua, 2016
Willow Books/Aquarius Press
150 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780997199628
Summary
In this powerful debut collection, Vanessa Hua gives voice to immigrant families navigating a new America. Tied to their ancestral and adopted homelands in ways unimaginable in generations past, these memorable characters straddle both worlds but belong to none.
These stories shine a light on immigrant families navigating a new America, straddling cultures and continents, veering between dream and disappointment.
From a Hong Kong movie idol fleeing a sex scandal, to an obedient daughter turned Stanford pretender, from a Chinatown elder summoned to his village, to a Korean-American pastor with a secret agenda, the characters in the collection illustrate the conflict between self and society, tradition and change.
In "What We Have is What We Need," winner of The Atlantic student fiction prize, a boy from Mexico reunites with his parents in San Francisco. When he suspects his mother has found love elsewhere, he fights to keep his family together.
With insight and wit, she writes about what wounds us and what we must survive. Deceit and Other Possibilities marks the emergence of a remarkable new writer. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Vanessa Hua is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, received an Asian/Pacific American Award in Literature, was a finalist for a California Book Award, and O, The Oprah Magazine called it a "searing debut." Her novel, A River of Stars, is forthcoming in August, 2018.
She received a Rona Jaffe Writers' Award, and is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. For nearly two decades, she has been writing about Asia and the diaspora, filing stories from China, Burma, Panama, South Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Ecuador.
Hua began her career at the Los Angeles Times before heading east to the Hartford Courant. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, among other publications.
A Bay Area native, she received the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan literary award and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. A graduate of Stanford University and UC Riverside’s MFA program, she works and teaches at the Writers’ Grotto in San Francisco.
Achievements include the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice coverage; the Asian American Journalists Association’s National Journalism Award — online/broadcast, print, and radio; the Society of Professional Journalists, the James Madison Freedom of Information Award, and the Best of the West. In 2017 she served as the Featured Literary Artist at APAture, an Asian American arts festival in San Francisco, and her short story collection is El Cerrito's pick for One City, One Book.
Her fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, ZYZZYVA, Guernica, and elsewhere. She received an Emerging Writer Fellowship from Aspen Words, a fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and a writer's residency at Hedgebrook, among other honors. She is a contributing non-fiction editor at the Asian American Writers' Workshop's The Margins. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The men, women and children in Hua's moving debut often find themselves straddling the volatile fault lines between desire and shame, decorum and rage.… She has a deep understanding of the pressure of submerged emotions and polite, face-saving deceptions. The truth comes out, sometimes explosively, sometimes in a quiet act of courage.
San Francisco Chronicle
A great writer, and subversively funny.… [W]icked absurd sense of humor…readable and human.
Buzzfeed
Exactly what we need to be reading in this country right now; and probably always. Zeroing in on a myriad of different immigration stories.… [T]his collection is funny and sad, quick-witted and thought provoking.
Bustle
Heart-wrenching, implacable.… [T]he characters within feel so human and in need of being heard.… Hua draws the reader in with her power of perception.
Huffington Post
Shrewd…hilarious.
Vice
Rare and generous.
Bitch Magazine
An intriguing collection.… [E]ach of her protagonists is never quite grounded, caught between multiple cultures and countries. Each hides beneath layers of deceit, clinging to lies that enable survival.… Hua is a writer to watch.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Deceit and Other Possibilities is, as the title suggests, a short story collection about secrets and lies, about what remains hidden. In "Line, Please," Kingsway Lee is a Hong Kong movie star who flees scandal by retreating to his hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area. Do you agree or disagree with how he tries to explain to his mother what happened? "I understand she has resigned herself to such behavior from her irredeemable son," he says. "I envy my nephew’s bright blank future." Does he think he’s capable of changing?
2. In "Loaves and Fishes," Prophet Alex Chan seeks redemption after the apocalypse he predicted failed to come to pass. He returns to making up prophecies to the passenger sitting beside him on the airplane. "Even the most godless youth were hungry for miracles that might rescue them from a future that held melting ice caps, polluted air, chool shootings, a sinking economy, zombies and vampires bursting through their frontdoors." Is deception ever justified, if in pursuit of a higher cause, or does that it inevitably corrupt?
3. In "What We Have is What We Need" presents the image of a seemingly united family: a father slips his arm around a mother’s waist, while their son, Lalo, watches. "From behind, they looked happy," Lalo says. "But you can never see all angles at once." How does fiction offer the opportunity to explore otherwise invisible angles of the human experience?
4. "For What They Shared" pits two women against each other: Lin, a Chinese immigrant, and Aileen, an American-born Chinese, camping beside each other in the redwoods. "Traitor, Lin wanted to tell her. You will always be Chinese. You are not one of them." In what ways are the two women alike, in what ways are they different, and how does that subvert the notion that communities are monolithic?
5. In "The Responsibility of Deceit," Calvin has not yet come out to his immigrant Chinese parents. "As much as I concealed from my parents, I needed them to be there to hide from. Worse than any rejection would be their absence from my life." Do you have a secret you’ve kept from your parents, and if you did eventually decide to tell them, why did you? How did it impact your relationship, for better or for worse?
6. "Accepted" illustrates conflict between generations, featuring a high school graduate struggling with the weight of expectations placed upon her by her immigrant parents. "I was supposed to become a doctor," Elaine Park says, "and buy my parents a sedan and a house in a gated community." Discuss the tension between generations, and how that may be heightened if there are gaps in language and culture?
7. In "The Shot," Sam Radulovich has lost ties to his father’s family, but "never lost the longing for that which made him different." He memorizes curse words and sips traditional plum brandy, but do these actions bring him closer to Serbian culture? Or is he looking for something that he can never find—a sense of belonging? Do you think about your ancestral culture, and in what ways, if any, do you wish you knew more?
8. In "The Older the Ginger," Old Wu muses: "Who didn’t want a rich American uncle,who filled you with a sense of possibility, prosperity close enough to touch? In your dreams, you escaped the prison of your circumstances and danced on the streets paved with gold." Though Old Wu is willing to maintain the illusion of American possibility for others, he himself has grown cynical. Are notions of the American Dream shifting, compared to the past? In what ways is this country still a land of possibility?
9. In "Harte Lake," Anna Murata blames her husband for not teaching her how to build a fire. "She had been a poor student, following without understanding or memorizing. She hated him for undermining her. For acting like he would always be there." What is the root of her anger towards him? How does gender, race, and history shape their relationship?
10. In "The Deal," Pastor David Noh never tells his wife that he used to gamble. "Keeping the secret allowed him to cherish certain memories, jewels he could admire in private rather than submit for public reckoning. God already knew." How do you feel about this paradox? Does he seem like a reliable narrator, and to what degree do you sympathize with him, or do you feel repelled?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Heather Morris, 2018
HarperCollins
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062797155
Summary
This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tatowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.
One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.
A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov's experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions. (From the publisher.)
Be sure to WATCH the 2004 video of the real Lale Sokolov.
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Te Awamutu, New Zealand
• Education—B.A., Monash University (Australia)
• Currently—lives in Melbourne, Australia
Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, now resident in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US.
In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who "might just have a story worth telling." The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her.
Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay—which ranked high in international competitions—before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Morris's second book, Cilka's Journey, came out in 2020. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
To many, this book will be most appreciated for its powerful evocation of the everyday horrors of …a concentration camp, while others will be heartened by the novel’s message of how true love can transcend even the most hellishly inhuman environments.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) [C]ompelling…. Readers will root for the two despite the many obstacles they face. Verdict: Historical fiction and memoir fans will be gripped by this unforgettable Holocaust story. —Laura Jones, Argos Community Schs., IN
Library Journal
Although one might suspect that there’s far more to his past than is revealed here, much of Lale’s story’s complexity makes it onto the page. And even though it’s clear that Lale will survive, Morris imbues the novel with remarkable suspense.
Booklist
[I]nside the day-to-day workings of the most notorious German death camp.… Morris interviewed Lale, teasing out his memories and weaving them into her heart-rending narrative of a Jew [who chose] to act with kindness and humanity in a place where both were nearly extinct.
BookPage
Discussion Questions
1. How did you feel about Lale when he was first introduced, as he arrived in Auschwitz? How did your understanding of him change throughout the novel?
2. What qualities did Lale have that influenced the way he was treated in the camp? Where did those qualities come from?
3. Survival in the camp depended on people doing deeds of questionable morality. Lale became the tattooist, but how did Gita’s choices affect her survival? What about her friend who befriended a Nazi?
4. Inmates in the concentration camp had to make life-or-death decisions every day. Why did some make the "right" decisions and survive while others did not?
5. Discuss some of the small acts of humanity carried out by individuals in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. How did these small acts of kindness have greater implications? Did it make you reconsider what you believe to be brave or heroic? Did this make you think differently about the impact of your own everyday actions?
6. The Tattooist of Auschwitz makes clear that there were also non-Jewish prisoners in the camp. How did the treatment of Jews differ from that of non-Jews? How did differences manifest themselves?
7. Had Gita and Lale met in a more conventional way, would they have developed the same kind of relationship? How did their circumstances change the course of their romance?
8. In what ways were the relationships between Gita and her friends different from the usual friendships between teenage girls? In what ways were they similar?
9. In what ways was Lale a hero? In what ways was he an ordinary man?
10. Lale faced danger even after the camp was liberated. How did his experiences immediately after liberation prepare him for the rest of his life?
11. How does The Tattooist of Auschwitz change your perceptions about the Holocaust in particular, and war in general? What implications does The Tattooist of Auschwitzs this book hold for our own time?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Turn of the Key
Ruth Ware, 2019
Gallery/Scout Press
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 352
Summary
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary.
And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious "smart" home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time.
It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1977
• Raised—Lewes, Sussex, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester University
• Currently—lives in London
Ruth Ware is the British author of mystery thrillers. She grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before returning to the UK. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer. She now lives in London with her husband and two small children.
After her debut In a Dark, Dark Wood was published in 2015, Ware was asked by NPR's David Greene about mystery writers who had influenced her:
I read a huge amount of it as a kid. You know, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Sherlock Holmes. And I didn't consciously channel that when I was writing, but when I finished and reread the book, I did suddenly realize how much this kind of structure owed to...Agatha Christie. And it wasn't consciously done, but...I would say I definitely owe a debt to Christie.
Indeed many have noticed Christie's influence in both of Ware's books, including her second, The Woman in Cabin 10, released in 2016. Ware's third novel, The Lying Game, came out in 2017, and her fourth, The Death of Mrs. Westaway in 2018. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Let’s just say that if you’ve got an Echo, you’re going to unplug it as soon as you finish the book…. What Ware does beautifully is infuse The Turn of the Key with a creepy Gothic sensibility. For all of the novel’s contemporary touches… she has delivered an old-fashioned horror story, peopled by children with "eyes full of malice," a dour housekeeper straight out of Rebecca and an inscrutable handyman.
New York Times Book Review
A superb suspense writer… Ware is a master at signaling the presence of evil at the most mundane moments…. Rowan stays put for reasons we won’t understand until the final act of this tragedy. And that’s when Ware’s gifts for structuring an ingenious suspense narrative really come to the fore…. Ware pulls out a stunner on the penultimate page that radically alters how we interpret everything that’s come before. Brava, Ruth Ware. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.
Maureen Corrigan - Washington Post
A clever and elegant update to James's story…. Surveillance and home technology slot easily into the conventions of horror: They bring the sense that your environment is invaded and controlled from afar, and that you are never quite as alone as you might wish…. The Turn of the Key, and novels like it, point to a new reality. We are all, constantly, haunted.
NPR
This appropriately twisty Turn of the Screw update finds the Woman in Cabin 10 author in her most menacing mode, unfurling a shocking saga of murder and deception.
Entertainment Weekly
Henry James via Black Mirror…. While the ambiguity in James’s masterpiece is "ghosts or madness?," here it is "ghosts or glitch?" Unlike The Turn of the Screw, however, Ware picks a lane, deploying a satisfyingly dizzying parade of twists and reveals without leaving much unexplained.
Los Angeles Review of Books
[E]xcellent…. Ware does a good job of creating tension…. [A]bove all, Ware skillfully lays the bread crumbs to the novel’s satisfying conclusion… but also leaves readers with one final, haunting question… that will stay with them long after they turn the last page.
Publishers Weekly
[C]lassic tropes… are combined with 21st-century creepiness.… Ware hits another one out of the park. Fans of hers or anyone with a taste for the disturbing will stay up late devouring this.
Library Journal
Ruth Ware’s homage to The Turn of the Screw is filled with all of the best gothic elements…. The Turn of the Key is compulsively readable and will keep readers guessing until the very last page... Straddling gothic and thriller, this novel will delight fans of both genres.
BookPage
[A] creepy mystery.… Regrettably, the novel's ending leaves a few too many loose ends while also avoiding the delicious ambiguity of its Victorian predecessors. Truly terrifying! Ware perfects her ability to craft atmosphere and sustain tension with each novel.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The book opens with Rowan Caine’s desperate plea for help from prison. If you received this letter as Mr. Wrexham, would you keep reading? Is there anything she could say that would persuade you to represent her?
2. Rowan describes the Elincourt estate in detail when she visits for her interview. What is your first impression of the house? What aspects were appealing or unappealing to you?
3. The interview with Sandra is standard but revealing. What do we learn about Rowan as she tries to come up with the perfect answers? Would you say Rowan is trustworthy? What do you learn about Sandra during this initial interaction?
4. Maddie, the second oldest girl, has an unexpected reaction to Rowan’s departure and makes a terrifying proclamation: "Don’t come here. It’s not safe" (p. 74). After everything Rowan saw and learned in the previous twenty-four hours, should she have heeded Maddie’s warning? Would you have listened to Maddie?
5. Rowan has a very negative first impression of Bill Elincourt and their relationship only gets worse from there. Why is her initial reaction so strong? How would you handle the ensuing harassment by an employer?
6. Sandra and Bill leave Rowan on her first day with the kids and she struggles to reign them all in. Discuss the kids’ behavior and how Sandra’s constant check-ins affect Rowan’s authority in the house. Look specifically at the interactions on page 131 and 158.
7. Rowan believes she is finally building a relationship with Maddie and Ellie when they show her their secret garden. But when their malicious intent is exposed, Rowan, Maddie, and Ellie all react intensely. Describe each of their reactions and the emotions behind them.
8. After the house goes haywire in the middle of the night, Rowan is sleep-deprived, on edge, and paranoid, and she jumps to several rash conclusions. Are these thoughts reasonable possibilities or delusions based in fear? Imagine how you might respond in her situation.
9. The Elincourts’ housekeeper, Jean McKenzie, immediately dislikes Rowan, but it seems to run deeper than their negative first encounter. Why? Could Jean be the one tormenting Rowan at night, as she suspects?
10. Rowan is deeply disturbed by the girl in Maddie’s drawing. "Tears were streaming down her face, her mouth was open in a despairing wail, and there were red scribbles of blood on her face and on her dress" (p. 228). What do you think it represents? Do you think Rowan should have addressed this directly?
11. When Jack and Rowan break into the attic, it is much worse than they expected. Discuss their ensuing conversation. What answers does Rowan have now and what questions remain? How do you think the doll head came to be in Rowan’s lap?
12. Rowan’s opinion of Jack changes repeatedly in her short time at Heatherbrae. He began as her confidant, became her lead suspect, and finally seemed to earn her trust. Do you think he is trustworthy? Why or why not?
13. We finally learn who Rachel Gerhardt is and of her personal connection to the family. Were there any clues that led you to suspect this before the big reveal? Do you believe Rachel’s version of events as she explains them to Mr. Wrexham?
14. In the last chapter, the truth of what happened to Maddie is finally revealed. How does Ellie’s letter align with Rachel’s retelling of that night? What, if any, questions remain?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Air You Breathe
Frances de Pontes Peebles, 2018
Penguin Publishing
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735210998
Summary
The story of an intense female friendship fueled by affection, envy and pride—and each woman's fear that she would be nothing without the other.
Some friendships, like romance, have the feeling of fate.
Skinny, nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graca, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty, and thrillingly ill behaved.
Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graca quickly bond over shared mischief, and then, on a deeper level, over music.
One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and for each, the only way out of the life to which each was born.
But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes—and haunt their memories.
Traveling from Brazil's inland sugar plantations to the rowdy streets of Rio de Janeiro's famous Lapa neighborhood, from Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood back to the irresistible drumbeat of home, The Air You Breathe unfurls a moving portrait of a lifelong friendship—its unparalleled rewards and lasting losses—and considers what we owe to the relationships that shape our lives. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Pernambuco, Brazil
• Education—Iowa's Workshop
• Awards—Elle Grand Prix (see below)
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Frances de Pontes Peebles is the author of the novel The Seamstress (2008), which was translated into nine languages and won the Elle Grand Prix for fiction, the Friends of American Writers Award, and the James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship. She followed her debut ten years later with The Air You Breathe (2018).
The decade between those two books was the result of Peebles' move back to Brazil with her husband to manage her family's coffee farm.
We helped them build a business of selling gourmet coffee to Brazilians. Farming was 24/7, so I didn't write during that time. Then we had a daughter. Motherhood changed my brain and how I worked. I had to sneak writing in when my daughter napped. I had to fight for this book in a way I didn't with the first.
Born in Pernambuco, Brazil, Peebles is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. (From Amazon and Maimi New Times. Retrieved 9/11/2018.)
Book Reviews
Echoes of Elena Ferrante resound in this sumptuous saga.
Oprah Magazine
A glorious, glittery saga of friendship and loss… [offering] murder, extortion, Hollywood glamor, the entire story of samba, and, of course, sexual longing and an exceptional cast of characters.… I read The Air You Breathe in two nights. (One might say I inhaled it.)… [G]enuinely exciting.
NPR
Enveloping…Peebles understands the shifting currents of female friendship, and she writes so vividly about samba that you close the book certain its heroine’s voices must exist beyond the page.
People
A poor orphan and a wealthy heiress whose roller-coaster friendship is a welcome reminder that time can make any relationship stronger.
Glamour
Frances de Pontes Peebles’ tender novel follows this unlikely friendship and the jealousy and rivalry that come with their pursuit of fame.
Real Simple
A soaring fusion of emotion, intense drama,… The Air You Breathe belongs to the special category of historical novels that chronicle entire lives—and it does so in enthralling fashion.… [I]ntoxicating … not to be missed by anyone wanting to be wrapped up in a well-told story.
Historical Novel Society
[A] captivating if occasionally overstuffed portrait of friendship.… [Yet] Dores’s reflections on love, music, envy, and loyalty ache with feeling, and a hint of mystery surrounding the central relationship …will keepreaders intrigued.
Publishers Weekly
In the 1930s, two girls—have-it-all Graca, the daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, and orphaned kitchen maid Dores—bond over a love of music and end up traveling together to Rio de Janeiro and finally Golden Age Hollywood in a quest for stardom.
Library Journal
Peebles does a marvelous job of evoking the world of samba, which forms the backdrop to the complicated relationship the two women share. Readers …will be rewarded with complex characters and a well-realized setting.
Booklist
(Starred review) Dores' recounting of the duo's experiences is steeped in melancholy but also alludes to the unreliability of memory…. Peebles' detailed and atmospheric story is cinematic in scope, panoramic in view, and lyrical in tone.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In The Air You Breathe, Dores grows up under the watchful eye of Nena, the head of the kitchen on the Riacho Doce plantation, while enduring gossip about her birth mother. Graaa’s mother does everything she can to expose her absent-minded daughter to the arts and education. In what ways do Dores’s and Graca’s relationships with their mothers or mother figures affect the way they lead their lives in Rio and beyond?
2. Throughout the novel, Graca comes across as spoiled and selfish; however, Dores is forced to reevaluate her intentions when Graca accuses her of only ever looking out for herself. To what extent is this true and what might have prompted Graca to make such a comment?
3. Music is a pivotal part of each of the characters’ lives. In what ways does music act as an escape and a burden for Dores, Graca, Vinicius, and the Blue Moon boys?
4. Dores’s love for Graca can become dangerously unconditional and we see that any attention from Graca is enough to make Dores want to abandon the work they’ve put into the Sofia Salvador act to run away with her. Are there instances when Dores seems to have had enough? What pulls her back into Graca’s influence? Was Dores, in a sense, liberated by Graca’s death?
5. Why, when Senhor Pimentel reappears in the girls’ lives, is Graca so willing to let him back in? Is Graca’s love for her father similar to Dores’s love for Graca in that both are willing to settle for minor displays of affection?
6. Madame Lucifer and the Lion fought to get to their positions of power, and both show their respect for Dores’s perseverance. How is Graca treated in comparison to the way Dores is? Are there instances when Graca, rather than Dores, is invisible or in the shadows?
7. Vinicius is a grounded character who cares about the integrity of his music first. How does Vinicius, and his relationship with music, change when Sofia Salvador and the Blue Moon boys gain fame, first in Rio then in Los Angeles? When Graca wants to abandon ship, Vinicius wants to convince her to stay and finish filming for their movies. Is this a practical decision or one that reflects how he feels about fame?
8. Graca and Dores want what the other has. Dores wants Graca’s voice and her command on stage while Graca wants Dores’s ability to write music and her relationship with Vinicius. In what ways would our opinion of Dores change if the story had been written from Graca’s point of view?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The History of Bees
Maja Lunde (transl., Diane Oatley), 2017
Touchstone
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501161377
Summary
In the spirit of Station Eleven and Never Let Me Go, this dazzling and ambitious literary debut follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present, and future, weaving a spellbinding story of their relationship to the bees—and to their children and one another—against the backdrop of an urgent, global crisis.
England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive—one that will give both him and his children honor and fame.
United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation.
China, 2098. Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao’s young son is taken away by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him.
Haunting, illuminating, and deftly written, The History of Bees joins these three very different narratives into one gripping and thought-provoking story that is just as much about the powerful bond between children and parents as it is about our very relationship to nature and humanity.
(From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1975
• Where—Norway
• Education—University of Oslo
• Currently—lives in Oslo, Norway
Maja Lunde is a Norwegian author and screenwriter. Lunde has written ten books for children and young adults. She has also written scripts for Norwegian television, including for the children’s series Barnas supershow (“The Children’s Super Show”), the drama series Hjem (“Home”) and the comedy series Side om Side (“Side by Side”). The History of Bees is her first novel for adults. She lives with her husband and three children in Oslo. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Is climate-themed fiction all too real? As scientists’ projections about the effects of climate change have increasingly become reality, some works of apocalyptic fiction have begun to seem all too plausible. Maja Lunde’s first book chronicles three generations as they exploit, try to save and eventually mimic bees.
New York Times
The History of Bees brings climate change into the realm of book-club fiction.… Lunde’s exploration of the tension between human instinct and the need for selflessness couldn’t be more timely.
Los Angeles Times
Lunde, a Norwegian author and screenwriter, threads a common string through these characters. The novel becomes far less about bees than about family — about how the relationship between parent and child can be passionate, desperate, tragic and uplifting….The History of Bees is a dark read, and yet it ends on a wavering note of optimism. It’s been likened to Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 sci-fi novel Station Eleven, with good reason.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
[T]he author…explores…the potentially bleak outcome for a world that ignores the warning signs …and allows honeybees to disappear.… [B]oth a multifaceted story and a convincing and timely wake-up call.
Publishers Weekly
This book… weaves together three fairly disparate stories spread across the better part of two and a half centuries.… Lunde’s compelling narrative draws the reader in.… [T]he "butterfly effect" is in full effect, as decisions made long ago and far away influence outcomes in unpredictable but realistic ways.
BookPage
Three interwoven tales from 1851, 2007, and 2098 tell the story of our dependency on bees.…Tao's quest to find her son and understand what happened to him will ultimately tie the three stories together…. Illuminating if not much fun.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The History Of Bees alternates between three perspectives: those of Tao, George, and William. With which of these three main characters did you most relate? To whom did you find it hardest to connect? With whom do you most identify?
2. On page 30, William’s mentor, Rahm, opines "One reproduces, has offspring, one instinctively puts their needs first, they are mouths to feed, one becomes a provider, the intellect steps aside to make way for nature." Do you agree or disagree with Rahm’s statement? What do you think William felt when his mentor put it thusly?
3. On page 36, George thinks longingly of the bees’ buzzing as the "real reunion celebration." How does George’s expectation of how his reunion with Thomas will go impact how the two men relate to each other?
4. Throughout the book, there’s great emphasis on experience vs. intellect. Think of George’s experience vs. Thomas’s books, Tao’s attempts to discover what happened to Wei-Wen, William’s relationship with Rahm. Which brand of "knowledge" do you think is more valuable?
5. George is preoccupied with leaving a "legacy" behind, resisting Emma’s attempts to move them to Florida. From where does his legacy ultimately come? Is it what you expected?
6. William, on page 116, says of his desired creation "Only humans could construct proper buildings, a building it was possible to monitor, which gave humans, not nature, control." From where does the impulse to control nature come? Do you think that a desire to control the natural world is something humans can overcome without catastrophic reason?
7. How do the workings of the hive impart a lesson for humans? Is there any wisdom to be gleaned from the way their "society" works?
8. When George goes on the camping trip with young Tom, he tells him a tale about a snake (p. 186). What could the snake be symbolic of?
9. Colony Collapse is partially about abandonment of the queen. How does the theme of abandonment or fear of abandonment play out throughout the novel, specifically in Tao’s timeline?
10. Both William and Tao find refuge in going to bed, while George finds himself unable to rest. How do the characters hide from their loved ones? Where do they each find solace?
11. Which character do you think is most important in the book? Whose life story holds the three narrative threads together?
12. On page 316, Tao notices that Li Xiara and the teenage boy are using the same words to describe two very different feelings—"Each and every one of us is not important" could be about either community or loneliness. Do you find meaning in community? How? How could a sense of community be taken too far?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)