The Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan, 2018
Little, Brown & Company
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316463997
Summary
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.
Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.
Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird.
In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.
Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Emily X.R. Pan currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, but was originally born in the Midwestern U.S. to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She received her MFA in fiction from the New York University Creative Writing Program, where she was a Goldwater Fellow.
She is the founding editor-in-chief of Bodega Magazine, and a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at Djerassi. The Astonishing Color of After is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review.) The subtlety and ambiguity of the supernatural elements place this story in the realm of magical realism, full of ghosts and complex feelings and sending an undeniable message about the power of hope and inner strength (Ages 12–up).
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) An exploration of grief and what it means to accept a loved one's suicide, this book's lyrical and heart-rending prose invites readers to take flight into their own lives and examine their relationships.… [N]ot to be missed (Gr 9-up). —Stephanie Charlefour, formerly of Wixom Public Library, MI
School Library Journal
(Starred review.) Dynamic, brave Leigh emerges vividly in Pan's deft hand, and her enthralling journey through her grief glows with stunning warmth, strength, and resilience.
Booklist
[H]aving Leigh express her feelings in terms of color is distracting and adds little to the story. [Still, this is an] evocative novel that captures the uncertain, unmoored feeling of existing between worlds …[and] seeking hope and finding beauty even in one's darkest hours (Ages 14-18).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel opens, "My mother is a bird." What role does the bird play throughout the story and how does it change as the story progresses?
2. The story has a nonlinear narrative where it’s told in the present and through flashbacks. Why do you think it was told through this narrative structure? Did you find it effective?
3. Throughout the book, Leigh struggles with her identity as someone who is half white and half Taiwanese. How do you think she ends up finding her identity?
4. Communication is an ongoing issue in the book, whether it is Leigh with her grandparents or with her best friend, Axel. Does communication ever get easier for Leigh? Have you ever experienced something similar to her?
5. What significance do food and tea bring to the book? How did they affect your understanding of the characters?
6. When Leigh meets Feng, she is jealous of Feng’s connection with her grandparents. How does Feng serve as a foil to Leigh’s character?
7. The book has a realistic setting with elements of magic. Why did the author choose to incorporate magic? What impact did magic have on the novel?
8. Why do you think Leigh’s mother kept her sister a secret from her daughter? If Leigh had known this secret earlier, how would it have changed the way she viewed her family?
9. Grief is at the core of this novel as Leigh tries to find closure after her mom’s death by suicide. How does her family treat mental health? Why do you think there’s still a stigma on mental health issues?
10. How does Leigh use color to convey her emotions? What color do you think represents the novel?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Little Faith
Nickolas Butler, 2019
HarperCollins
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062469717
Summary
In this moving new novel from celebrated author Nickolas Butler, a Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the influence of a radical church.
Lyle Hovde is at the onset of his golden years, living a mostly content life in rural Wisconsin with his wife, Peg, daughter, Shiloh, and six-year old grandson, Isaac.
After a troubled adolescence and subsequent estrangement from her parents, Shiloh has finally come home.
But while Lyle is thrilled to have his whole family reunited, he’s also uneasy: in Shiloh’s absence, she has become deeply involved with an extremist church, and the devout pastor courting her is convinced Isaac has the spiritual ability to heal the sick.
While reckoning with his own faith—or lack thereof—Lyle soon finds himself torn between his unease about the church and his desire to keep his daughter and grandson in his life.
But when the church’s radical belief system threatens Isaac’s safety, Lyle is forced to make a decision from which the family may not recover.
Set over the course of one year and beautifully evoking the change of seasons, Little Faith is a powerful and deeply affecting intergenerational novel about family and community, the ways in which belief is both formed and shaken, and the lengths we go to protect our own. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 2, 1979
• Raised—Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA
• Education—University of Wisconsin; Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in Wisconsin
Nickolas Butler, author of several novels, is perhaps best known for Shotgun Lovesongs and, most recently, Little Faith. Butler was raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin. He is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Butler has worked as a meatpacker, a Burger King maintenance man, a liquor store clerk, a coffee roaster, an office manager, an author escort, an inn-keeper (twice), and several other odd vocations.
Aside from his novels, Butler's writings have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review Online, The Progressive, The Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere.
He lives on 16 acres of land in rural Wisconsin adjacent to a buffalo farm. He is married with two children.
Novels
2014 - Shotgun Lovesongs
2015 - Beneath the Bonfire
2016 - The Hearts of Men
2019 - Little Faith
Book Reviews
[A] tender and perceptive novel.… An open-minded inquiry into the nature of religious belief, in both its zealous and low-key forms.… Little Faith is [Butler’s] best so far, unafraid of sentiment yet free of the kitsch.
Wall Street Journal
[Peopled with] regular folks, behind whose plain-spoken reserve and dry humor beats the heart of the country, at once practical and passionate, poetic and earthbound.… Butler is very good at getting… the routines and rituals as subtly infused with personal history as with the changing of the seasons.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Butler’s prose is very much a reflection of his characters, particularly Lyle—simple but not austere, forthright yet reverent. And he pragmatically poses questions of faith through his characters.… The story's pace begins slowly but steadily builds to a climactic ending. Readers may love or hate where and how Butler chooses to end the story, but there is no doubt their reaction will be informed by their own faith.
USA Today
★ [B]reathtaking yet devastating…. Butler weaves questions surrounding faith, regret, and whether it’s possible to love unconditionally.… Secondary plots, including Lyle’s friend Hoot’s slow decline from cancer, Shiloh’s adoption story, and Peg and Lyle’s early courtship, are brief but equally resonant. This is storytelling at its finest.
Publishers Weekly
★ A beautifully realized meditation on the nature of parenting and living in a perplexing (and often cruel) world. Enthusiastically recommended for parents and fans of literary fiction.
Library Journal
Exploring the complexities of faith and family, Butler… also tackles the power and pitfalls of devout Christianity.… Butler’s sense of place, which lets seasonal shifts and harvest cycles, propel the novel forward. Little Faith is quietly and deeply moving.
Booklist
The novel is like a favorite flannel shirt, relaxed and comfortable, well-crafted even as it deals with issues of life and death, faith and doubt.… Though the plot builds toward a dramatic climax, it ends with more of a quiet epiphany.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for LITTLE FAITH … then take off on your own:
1. You might start id a discussion of Little Faith by talking about the Hovde family relationships. How do the family dynamics among the four set them up to react the way each does when the crisis unfolds?
2. Years ago Lyle and Peg lost their baby son; as a result Lyle has struggled with his faith. Is Lyle's doubt understandable, or is there a way forward—to reconcile tragedy with belief? (This is a branch of philosophy called theodicy, which is often expressed more colloquially as "why do bad things happen to good people?")
3. Other than religious, what other kinds of faith exist in this book? What about faith in the bonds of family and community, or faith in what seems to be right? Does/should religious faith take precedence over other faiths?
4. What are your thoughts about Steven, especially his influence over Shiloh? How do you see Shiloh as a parent?
5. Where do your sympathies lie in this novel? Whom do you find fault with most?
6. The end of the novel offers no easy answers or resolutions. Do you find the ending satisfying, or would you have preferred a more definitive conclusion? Perhaps the author intended to leave it up to the reader to supply the novel's ending. If so, how would you write it?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Something to Talk About
Meryl Wilsner, 2020
Penguin Publishing
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780593102527
Summary
A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance.
Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple.
The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time—threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie.
As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a “source” is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is “no comment”.
With the launch of Jo’s film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously.
Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all…but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Meryl Wilsner writes stories about queer women falling in love. Born in Michigan, Meryl lived in Portland, Oregon, and Jackson, Mississippi, before recently returning to the Mitten State. Some of Meryl's favorite things include: all four seasons, button down shirts, the way giraffes run, and their wife. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review) Wilsner’s sparkling debut offers a glimpse at the truth behind the tabloid headlines.… Wilsner makes sure the reader knows both women intimately…, making the eventual payoff that much more rewarding.… [A] charming rom-com… a gem.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) This debut is an unputdownable slow-burn romance with well-drawn and incredibly real characters. Wilsner does an amazing job exploring a Hollywood love story in the middle of a #metoo movement. —Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash
Library Journal
(Starred review) Fleshed out with important female friendships and a timely look at sexual harassment in the film industry, Wilsner's tale maintains a primary focus on the delightful, developing romance. Completely captivating and so satisfying.
Booklist
(Starred review) Wilsner’s writing is matter-of-fact but effective, lending the novel a believable Hollywood insider vibe with a deftly handled #MeToo subplot. A sparkling debut with vibrant characters, a compelling Hollywood studio setting, and a sweet slow-burn romance.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What effect did the rumors have on Jo and Emma’s relationship? Do you think they would have developed feelings, or recognized those feelings, had the rumors never existed?
2. Jo was worried about taking advantage of Emma. Why is this? How did she ensure the power imbalance from their working relationship didn’t make their personal relationship unhealthy?
3. How does the book portray sibling relationships? Compare and contrast Jo’s relationship with Vincent and Emma’s relationship with Avery.
4. What trade-offs do Jo and Emma have to consider when deciding to be in a relationship? How might their reputations and careers suffer? Do you think it’s worth it?
5. Why wasn’t Jo publicly out? What factors affected this decision?
6. Discuss Jo’s relationship with her father and how it affects her and her decisions.
7. Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept regarding an individual’s duty to improve or repair the world around them. How does tikkun olam influence Emma’s behavior throughout the book, but especially in response to Barry Davis?
8. Why might Annabeth Pierce not have come forward about Barry Davis’s behavior earlier? What factors affected her decisions, both to stay quiet, and to eventually come forward?
9. Why did the suits at the network suggest Jo be seen out with a man? How might they have reacted differently if the rumors involved Jo and a man instead of another woman?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
If We Were Villains
M.L. Rio, 2017
Flatiron
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250095282
Summary
Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail — for a murder he may or may not have committed.
On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra.
But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
Intelligent, thrilling, and richly detailed, If We Were Villains is a captivating story of the enduring power and passion of words. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Miami, Florida, USA
• Raised—State of North Carolina
• Education—B.A., University of North Carolina; M.A., Kings College, London
• Currently—no set address
M.L. Rio is an American author of the 2017 If We Were Villains, a suspense-mystery story surrounding a group of college Shakespearean actors obsessed with The Bard.
Rio was born in Miami, Florida, and raised in North Carolina; she's spent time in Middle Earth, Neverland, Wonderland, and Hogwarts, so she tends to move around. In fact, she considers herself a bit of a nomad even today: having finished her Masters at King's College in London, she's in the U.S.enjoying the freedom of settling, well …nowhere.
Along with her childhood love of reading, Rio has been writing as early as six or seven, when she penned her first story about a girl with a pet dragon. By 14 she'd written a novel, the first of several, as she says on her website, which fall under the category of desk drawer novels.
Just as she took to writing, she also took to acting. At 14 (around the time she finished that first "novel"), Rio discovered the joys of Shakespeare, a passion that grew into full-blown Bardolatry. Since then she has played Shakespearean roles as varied as the hunchbacked Richard III and Titania, the fairy queen in Midsummer Night's Dream. Rio's love for the Bard continued unabated and spurred her on to her Master's in Shakespeare Studies.
As of this writing (2017) Rio is planning to go on for her Ph.D. (Adapted from online sources and from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The premise of Rio’s debut novel is intriguing.… Though the plot twists may not surprise some readers, this is a solid mystery that keeps the pages turning.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Echoing such college-set novels as Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and mixing in enough Shakespearean theater to qualify readers for the stage, Rio’s debut mystery is an engrossing ride.… Rio crafts an intricate story about friendship, love, and betrayal. Recommended for readers who enjoy literary fiction by authors such as Tartt or Emily St. John Mandel.
Library Journal
A tale worthy of the Bard himself…ending in one final, astonishing twist. Recommended for readers with refined literary tastes, and those looking for "something like" Donna Tartt.
Booklist
(Starred review.) [B]loody, melodramatic, suspenseful…managing to cleverly weave a whole new story from…plots of Macbeth, Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear.… This novel about obsession …will thoroughly obsess you.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In the very first scene, Oliver says, "We did wicked things, but they were necessary, too—or so it seemed. Looking back, years later, I’m not so sure they were…and now I wonder: Could I explain it all to Colborne?" (page 5). Having finished the story, which of the "wicked" things do you think were necessary or inevitable? Which were not? What, in the last ten years, might have caused Oliver to change his mind?
2. Throughout the story the fourth-years perform four of Shakespeare’s plays and quote the other plays and poems in their everyday conversation. Shakespeare’s works— and especially the tragedies —are saturated with love, loss, jealousy, betrayal, and violence. How do these themes manifest themselves offstage? To what degree is life imitating art? Do you, like Oliver, "blame Shakespeare" for what happens in the story, or is he simply using Shakespeare as a scapegoat?
3. How does Dellecher’s educational model affect the fourth-years’ behavior? Oliver and Colborne both hypothesize that the highly competitive nature of the school contributes to the students’ proclivity for passionate action and sometimes violence. Is this true? To what extent? Oliver remarks that "Actors are by nature volatile — alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster" (page 53). Is this innate or learned behavior?
4. How does the usual "typecasting" of the seven fourth-years affect the course of the story? How do the changes in that typecasting affect their interpersonal relationships? To what extent does Gwendolyn’s "psychological puppeteering" (page 49) influence the students’ actions? Does she merely exacerbate existing tensions or does she create conflict where none existed before? Why do you think she does this?
5. Oliver repeatedly identifies himself as a bystander, secondary character, or interloper. How does his role as observer affect his role as storyteller? On page 102 he says, "I was quiet. Motionless. In my own estimation, pointless. A fuse with no fire and nothing to ignite." Is he really just a pawn between James and Richard, or is he more integral to the conflict from the outset?
6. A line from Pericles— "Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke" —is quoted twice in the story, and in Act IV Oliver observes that in his subconscious mind, violence and intimacy have become "somehow interchangeable" (page 305). How are love, sex, and violence connected in the story? Does one necessitate or provoke the other? Why might that be true of this particular group of people?
7. Are the fourth-years justified in their decision not to save Richard’s life? Are some more justified than others? What might have happened if they had? In their position, what would you do?
8. Oliver tells Colborne, "People always forget about Filippa. And later they always wish they hadn’t" (page 88). Why do you think this is? Why is she so easily overlooked, and what makes her so indispensable?
9. Oliver claims to love both James and Meredith, at different points throughout the story. Do you think he loves them in the same or different ways? Does he love one more than the other? Is it possible for him to love them equally, or simultaneously?
10. When Oliver ventures into Richard’s room the morning after the King Lear cast party, he struggles with feelings of guilt and old affection but also insists that he "would be a fool to regret for one minute that he was gone" (page 320). Is this true, and if it is, why is he feeling so remorseful now and not earlier in the story?
11. After hearing James’s confession, do you think he was justified in killing Richard? Would you categorize it as self-defense? Do you think he tells Oliver the whole truth or is there more to the story?
12. The ending of the story is deliberately ambiguous. What do you think might happen next?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Every Note Played
Lisa Genova, 2018
Gallery/Scout
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476717807
Summary
From neuroscientist and bestselling author of Still Alice comes a powerful exploration of regret, forgiveness, freedom, and what it means to be alive.
An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. Every finger of his hands was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision.
That was eight months ago.
Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce—his divorce.
He knows his left arm will go next.
Three years ago, Karina removed their framed wedding picture from the living room wall and hung a mirror there instead. But she still hasn’t moved on. Karina is paralyzed by excuses and fear, stuck in an unfulfilling life as a piano teacher, afraid to pursue the path she abandoned as a young woman, blaming Richard and their failed marriage for all of it.
When Richard becomes increasingly paralyzed and is no longer able to live on his own, Karina becomes his reluctant caretaker. As Richard’s muscles, voice, and breath fade, both he and Karina try to reconcile their past before it’s too late.
Poignant and powerful, Every Note Played is a masterful exploration of redemption and what it means to find peace inside of forgiveness. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 22, 1970
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.S. Bates College; Ph.D, Harvard University
• Currently—lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Lisa Genova is an American neuroscientist and author of fiction. She graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude from Bates College with a BS degree in biopsychology and received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University in 1998.
Genova did research at Massachusetts General Hospital East, Yale Medical School, McLean Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health. She also taught neuroanatomy at Harvard Medical School fall 1996.
Genova married and gave birth to a daughter in 2000. Four years later she and her husband divorced, and Genova began writing full-time. To hear Genova tell it:
When I was 33, I got divorced. I’d been a stay-at-home mom for four years, and I planned to go back to work as a health-care industry strategy consultant. But then I asked myself a question that changed the course of my life: If I could do anything I wanted, what would I do? My answer, which was both exciting and terrifying—write a novel about a woman with Alzheimer’s (Cape Cod Magazine.).
In 2007 she self-published her first novel, Still Alice, which went on to became a major best seller and award winning film. Since then, Genova has written three other fictional works about characters dealing with neurological disorders.
Still Alice
Genova's debut novel follows a woman suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alice Howland, a 50-year-old woman, is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned linguistics expert. She is married to an equally successful husband, and they have three grown children. The disease takes hold swiftly, changing Alice’s relationship with her family and the world.
Self-published, Genova sold copies of the book out of the trunk of her car. The book was later acquired by Simon & Schuster and published in 2009. It appeared on the New York Times best seller list for more than 40 weeks, was sold in 30 countries, and translated into more than 20 languages.
The book was adapted for the stage by Christine Mary Dunford and performed by Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company in 2013.
A 2014 film adaptation starred Julianne Moore as the lead and co-starred Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, and Kate Bosworth. Moore won an Oscar for Best Actress.
Other books
♦ Left Neglected (2011)
Genova's second novel tells the story of a woman who suffers from left neglect (also called hemispatial or unilateral neglect), caused by a traumatic brain injury. As she struggles to recover, she learns that she must embrace a simpler life. She begins to heal when she attends to elements left neglected in herself, her family, and the world around her.
♦ Love Anthony (2012)
Offering a unique perspective in fiction, this third novel presents the extraordinary voice of Anthony, a nonverbal boy with autism. Anthony reveals a neurologically plausible peek inside the mind of autism, why he hates pronouns, why he loves swinging and the number three, how he experiences routine, joy, and love. And it is the voice of this voiceless boy that guides two women in this powerfully unforgettable story to discover the universal truths that connect us all.
♦ Inside the O'Briens (2015)
In her fourth novel, Genova follows Joe O'Brien, a middle-aged Boston policeman diagnosed with Huntington's. There is no cure, and the disease is progressive and lethal. The story revolves around the fallout on Joe's family, including his daughter who is at risk for carrying the genes.
TV and film
Since her first novel was published, Genova has become a professional speaker about Alzheimer's disease. She has been a guest on the Today Show, Dr. Oz, CNN, PBS News Hour, and the Diane Rehm Show. She appeared in the documentary film To Not Fade Away. It is a follow-up to the Emmy Award-winning film, Not Fade Away (2009), about Marie Vitale, a woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 45. (Adapated from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/6/2015.)
Book Reviews
What’s amazing about her newest novel, Every Note Played, is what is amazing about all of Genova’s books. She is both the neuroscientist and the actor when she writes. She tells not only the story of a person struck down by some disease. She tells the story of the disease, too. And you learn this way. But it never feels like learning.
Boston Globe
[Lisa Genova] delivers another gripping journey through a dread disease in Every Note Played. This time she trains her masterful storytelling skills on ALS as it plays out in a fractured family... deft phrasing eases the reader’s passage through a story that can’t end happily.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
An expertly written depiction of the toll a ravaging disease takes on both the body and the heart.
Marie Claire
[A] gripping novel.… Unsparing in her depiction of the disease’s harrowing effects, neuroscientist Genova also celebrates humanity and the rewards of asking for, and offering, forgiveness.
People
This book is especially remarkable because as a neuroscientist, author Lisa Genova has keen insight into the realities of ALS.
Bustle
Genova captivates with [her] painful but unflinching story…. [The characters'] harrowing journey, though it lacks any true narrative surprises, is both substantively informative about ALS and an emotionally wrenching psychological portrait.
Publishers Weekly
Genova expertly details the devastation ALS wreaks on Richard, and though her latest is a sometimes difficult read, she finds hope in the opportunities Richard has to repair his relationships with his daughter and brothers before it’s too late.
Booklist
While undeniably formulaic, Genova's latest is one of her strongest—more internalized, sometimes slow, but an eloquent and touching imagining of how a peaceful terminal place might be reached.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think Lisa Genova chose the title Every Note Played for this novel? How did the title help your reading of the novel? Richard and Karina were both professional pianists. Describe how they relate to the music they played. Were there any notes or compositions that were particularly meaningful to them?
2. Karina wonders if she could "have seen the red flags through the thick haze of lust at twenty." (p. 43) What do you think? Were there any warning signs that Richard wasn’t the person he seemed? Describe their early relationship. What initially drew Richard and Karina to each other?
3. Discuss the structure of Every Note Played. What’s the effect of having the chapters alternate between Richard’s life and Karina’s? Does it help you understand both of the characters? If so, how?
4. As he is performing, Richard remembers Karina telling him, "Being married is more than wearing a ring." (p. 2) What triggers this memory for Richard? Explain Karina’s statement, particularly in light of her marriage to Richard. Were you surprised to learn the reasons for their divorce? What does being married mean to you?
5. Upon learning of Richard’s diagnosis, Karina pays him a visit. "She had such good intentions," and wonders how it went "so wrong." (p. 32) Describe the visit. Did you learn anything that surprised you about their relationship? What are Karina’s motivations for visiting Richard? Do you think that her intentions are good? Why or why not?
6. While Richard and Karina were both classically trained pianists, Karina’s true passion is playing jazz piano. What does she like about jazz? Why does Richard prefer classical music? Do their musical preferences reflect their personalities? How so?
7. Richard comes to think of Bill as "equal parts brother, doctor, parent, and friend." (p. 96) What did you think of him? How does he help Richard preserve his sense of dignity and humanity? What’s effect does Bill have on Karina?
8. While Richard’s ALS is progressing, he reflects on how "in a million ways, living with ALS is a practice in the art of Zen." (p. 98) For example, although Richard dislikes Broadway musicals, he does not tell Bill when Bill sings show tunes. Why not? Can you think of any other instances when Richard practices "the art of Zen"? What are they?
9. While visiting Richard, Karina reflects on how "the story of their lives can be an entirely different genre depending on the narrator." (p. 29) Explain this statement. How would you characterize the story of Richard and Karina’s marriage as told from Karina’s perspective? What about Richard’s? Are there any other instances in Every Note Played when two characters experience the same event completely differently based on their perspective? What are they?
10. Who is Alexander Lynch? Describe his performance. How is seeing it a transformative experience for Karina? Explain why Karina originally resisted going on the trip where she encounters Alexander. Do you agree with her rationale? Why or why not?
11. Describe Richard’s relationship with his brothers. Why is he reluctant to tell them of his diagnosis? What did you think of Tommy and Mikey? Were you surprised by Tommy’s apology? If so, why? How does Tommy’s apology and the ensuing conversation help Richard see another side of his brothers? Why might Richard’s "big, brave, tough jock brothers [be] scared of their father, too"? (p. 221)
12. Upon hearing that Grace has told her boyfriend that Karina is "an amazing pianist," Karina is "caught surprised, moved that Grace would describe her this way." (p. 38) Describe Karina’s reaction to Grace’s praise. Why did Karina give up her career? How much blame, if any, does Richard deserve? What does Karina think?
13. Describe Dr. George. How is Dr. George able to relate to Richard and put him at ease? Dr. George suggests that Richard consider recording "legacy messages." What are they? What does Richard think about them? Discuss legacy messages with your book club. If you were in Richard’s situation, for whom would you want to record these messages? What would your messages say?
14. At the clinic, the practitioners use the term care, "and Richard doesn’t openly object but care is not provided every three months when he comes for his appointment." (p. 51) Why does Richard continue to go to the clinic? Does Richard’s opinion regarding the "care" that he gets at the clinic change? If so, why? Are there different ways to provide care? What kind of care does Kathy provide to Richard? Compare and contrast it with the care that Bill and Karina provide him.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)