Today is the discussion day for our Read With Us summer book, John of John by Douglas Stuart.
Kym, Carole, and I are each posting a discussion question or two on our blogs today, and you are welcome to respond in the comments. I would also encourage you to reply to others' comments if you choose. This is a book discussion, after all, so there are no correct answers or right opinions. I'm really looking forward to discussing this book. I raced through it the first time I read it, and then read it a second time where I discovered many things I had missed or forgotten. I think this discussion will be valuable for me, and I hope for others of you as well.
John of John seems especially well-suited to discussion because it raises questions about family, identity, love, and the complicated ways we inherit both strengths and wounds from the people who came before us. Here is my question: The novel is full of things people cannot or will not say. What secrets and silences seemed most important to you? How does Stuart use what the characters don't say to create tension?
I'll be glad to share my thoughts about our questions tonight during our Zoom discussion. These questions on our blogs and the Zoom discussion are your chance to express your ideas. So what do you think? I can't wait to hear your thoughts! (And I'm counting on our discussion to give me fresh perspectives in my own thinking about this unique novel.)
I think the most powerful secret was John's sexual orientation; hiding it clearly caused him a lot of pain -- the breakdown of his marriage, his troubled relationship with his son, and surely no shortage of religious angst. The secret I enjoyed the most, though, was that Ella could understand the Gaelic all along!
ReplyDeleteThe secrets are an entire weaving in and of themselves! A cloth the entire island weaves together. They think no one knows, but maybe it is more correct that no one says anything about it. Every house has an elephant in the room... there is not a single person that is "secret free". I think this is a big part of what binds them all together... the secrets they keep. Perhaps the island is the only place where secrets can be secret.
ReplyDeleteI think the secret about the end of John's marriage was the one that hurt Cal the most. The whole business with the inheritance of the land was interesting. And Ella, oh Ella!
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