New Book Club Information
The Novello Press is offering special discounts for orders of ten or more copies of Absolution. Call Publisher Amy Rogers at (704) 416-0706 or contact Novello Press.
Also, if your book club would like a personal interview with Miriam, you can set this up several ways:
— with a voice phone interview.
— by e-mailing her written questions for an e-mail response.
— or if you are within North or South Carolina, you can contact Miriam to see if a personal visit to your group is possible.
Contact Miriam through e-mail using the contact link found just below the questions.
Questions for Book Club Discussions
1. Discuss Maggie and Richard's marriage. Why would Richard marry someone who was a peace activist during the Vietnam War? Why did Maggie marry Richard? What makes you think this marriage was a good marriage? Or a bad marriage? How would you compare their marriage to most marriages?
2. Often when we look back at the 1960s, whether or not we were old enough to remember those times clearly, we stake out a position on the Vietnam War and the Anti-war Movement. Discuss the positions that Absolution takes. How should we view Richard’s Special Forces team? How should we view Maggie’s friends in the peace movement?
3. We are living in another time of war in which returning soldiers are dealing with physical and emotional wounds (such as PTSD/Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Which characters in the novel seem most affected by their combat experiences? The least affected? Discuss why some veterans may fare better than others?
4.What did Billy Nguyen deserve? How do you feel about Ev Quincy’s defense of Billy? About Adam Borstein’s case against Billy?
5. Discuss Maggie’s personal journey from the time of Richard’s death to the end of the novel. How did she deal with her grief? What steps do you see her taking in the grieving process? What do you think the future holds for Maggie? For Maggie’s relationship to Travis?
6. William Faulkner wrote, “The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.” How did events that happened more than 30 years before affect Maggie and Richard? How do you believe the 1960’s might still be affecting us today?
Click Here for a Printable Version
|
