|
|
|
Joan Hawkins, author of School and Suicide and the forthcoming Wounded Galaxies 1968 says this about If Not the Whole Truth:
“No easy answers here, but the questions are so very interesting, all within a wonderful page-turner of a novel.”
Perfect for book clubs! Here are some ideas about what your book club could explore:
- Convictions: How can common ground be found between those with opposing convictions? Can one hold conflicting convictions at the same time? Does everyone hold strong convictions? What are yours?
- Our inclinations: To forget/not be interested in what came before, to glom onto the easiest, rather than nuanced, information.
- Connie Borders and her mother: They start on uneven footing, but grow toward each other. Her browbeaten mother always believes in Connie, but Connie doesn't always believe back. Does she ever tell her mother the whole truth?
- Connie and her father: Oh boy oh boy, does she have daddy issues. He propels her and shapes her choices in ways she doesn't see. Do you think this played into her vulnerability to Wild Bill, or was he just a pro manipulator?
- Men: Speaking of good or not-so-good choices, what did you think of Connie's relationship with Carlos? Were you surprised to find Jack in 2022 Chicago?
- Girlfriends: Good & bad, they push Connie to places she'd never go otherwise. When all else fails, it's a girlfriend she needs.
- Full immersion: Is it a good way for Connie to learn? Does she really have to go all in to find out if she's in the right spot?
- Perceptions and perspectives on what's true: Is truth one thing or does it come in flavors? Is there really such a thing as alternative facts?
- History: Is it the truth or is it what's written by the victors. How do you approach history, is it possible to be bias-free?
- Growth: Connie's journey starts out as a cock-sure eighteen year old, where does it go?
- Grassroots activism: The Young Lords, the Black Panther Party, even the Indy Free Press, they worked hard to do the right thing on the grassroots level ... and failed. Why? Is grassroots activism ever successful?
- Revolutions: They've happened again and again as far back as recorded time. If they succeed, often the oppressed turn into the oppressor. But what about failed revolutions, are they more successful by merging into the mainstream?
- Women's rights: What does women's equality mean to you? In healthcare, pay, status & role in society.
- Being true to yourself: Do you have a clear value set? Has it changed over the years ... and if so, were the old values flawed? Does it hold up when the pressure is on? How do you have a value set when you aren't sure who you are exactly?
- A minor character in a bigger saga: Connie is nobody. Author Michael Martone said this book is like the novella Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood that retells the Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope (his wife who waited for him in Ithaca for 20 years while he was away at the Trojan War) and the twelve maids, or like Minor Characters, Joyce Johnson's memoir of her time with Jack Kerouac, along with the women who played pivotal, but hidden roles in the Beat Generation. So often the case for women. True for sure for the women of the Black Panther Party, too (read Fabienne Josaphat's award winning Kingdom of No Tomorrow for more on that). Is Connie's perspective of the late 1960s era and 2022 the same as it would be for more major players? How important is her role, your role?
- Advice: If you could talk to Connie at any particular point, what advice would you give her? What about other characters?
- Abortion: What do you think about how abortion, contraception, and pregnancy are presented in this story?
- Racism: How do you feel about how race relations are presented in this story?
- Shocking: What did you think was the most shocking or memorial scene, or most surprising twist?
- Metaphors: How did metaphor support this story? Think about Connie's relationship with war, nature, fashion, coffee, her job.
- Expression: How do media, music, art, fashion, and food reflect social conditions?
- Footnotes: It's unusual to find footnotes in a novel. And these footnotes are unusual in that they aren't there to provide references to other's work. What did you think of them being there, did you read them?
- Author: Have you read the other book, Leave the Dogs at Home, a memoir, that the author has written? Can you see the link in the nature of the stories as they wade into uncomfortable, but important territories?