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)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Operation Mincemeat:
1. What could explain the fact that German intelligence, hardly an un-intelligent group, fell for a feint like Operation Mincemeat...to the point where Hitler deployed troops to Greece rather than Sicily?
2. In an Amazon interview, Ben Macintyre says that what most fascinated him in researching the book was "the elaborate, many-layered deception...as if [the organizers of the operation] were writing a novel...." In what way was the creation of Mincemeat like a writing novel?
3. What do you think of Charles Cholmondeley? Would you consider him the unsung hero behind Operation Mincemeat? Or would you reserve the "hero" title for Ewan Montague? Or is there someone else?
4. Do you think Ewan (Bill) and Jean Leslie (Pam) actually had an actual affair? There are hints that, indeed, they might have, but only hints. What do you think?
5. The characters who worked on the the plot were a strange eccentric group of people, many with blistering egos. What do you think made them cohere as a group and pull off, successfully, this multi-faceted escapade?
6. Do you find it ironic that poor Glyndwr Michael, who led an insignificant life, became far more valuable as a dead men? What might this suggest about the pathos, even tragedy, of real life...or the old saw—"life is stranger than fiction"?
7. You might get a hold of the 1956 film, The Man Who Never Was, and play a few clips. The film is based on the events of Operation Mincemeat. Compare book and film.
8. Discuss the brilliant planning—and fine-tuning— that went into the success of the operation. What impressed you most...or surprised you most?
9. Talk about the ways in which luck also played a part in the operation's success.
10. Could someone create a story of your own (real) life and pass it on as credible to enemy intelligence? What would you want them to include in the bio—what kind of, say, "wallet litter"? Even better, divide up into groups and devise your own fictional character, someone who might be carrying information valuable to the enemy. How would you create such a life—and make it seem real? Is it sorta...kinda...like writing a novel?
11. What does Macintyre mean when he says that the overall scheme was a "double bluff"?
12. What does this book reveal about the spy-world during war—the role that "intelligence" played back then...and might still play today? How would you prioritize what is more important in determining the outcome of war? Would you say...intellligence, leadership, or fighting?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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