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 Wildflower:
1. There are two transformations in this book: first, the flowering of Joan Root from a shy, reticent wife in the shadow of her flamboyant husband into a fierce defender of African wildlife and natural beauty; second, the destruction of the once edenic land beloved by Root, Kenya's Lake Naivasha. Which story do you find most compelling?
2. Describe Joan and Alan Root—how different from one another were they? Were there any similarities?
3. What was the nature of the couple's marriage? What role did Joan play in Alan's career as a filmmaker? At some point, Joan believed she had been "too dutiful" as Alan's assistant. Is that an accurate self-assessment?
4. What did you find most interesting about filmmaking wild animals? Talk about your favorite episodes...the baby elephant on the cover, perhaps?
5. The book, purposely or not, raises interesting questions about the dichotomy of economic development vs. environmental conservation. Is the flower industry helping the Kenyan economy and its people? What about its workers—what benefits, if any, do they derive from the industry? What insights have you gained into this dilemma?
6. How well does this book capture the complex feelings on the part of the Africans toward the British settlers—resentment vs. appreciation? How did Joan Root's life and death reflect those paradoxical attitudes?
7. We know at the outset that Joan Root will lose her life. What effect does that knowledge have on your reading? Does knowing lend the book a sense of inevitability...fate beyond our control...sadness...irony?
8. Did Joan Root want what was best for Africa...or what was best for her, based on her personal vision of what Africa should be?
9. We learn much about Joan Root through letters she had written years earlier and through Alan Root, who didn't know the transformed Joan. Do you feel we get a true portrait of Joan Root?
10. Who killed Joan Root...and why? What is the "official" explanation? What do you think?
11. What is the significance of the book's title, "Wildflower"?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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