I met online last night with Larry, John, Joyce, Tim, Edna, Sandy, Elaine, and Sandy. (yes, there were two!)
They are all connected to Roseland Trinity United Church in Windsor, Ontario. This was the second time they’d met to discuss The Book of Answers.
If you have not read it, here’s a link to Amazon, where you can read a sample: https://a.co/d/17px2xY
At their first meeting they worked through some of their owned prepared questions, and a few I’d provided.
At this second meeting, with me as an invited guest, (and I loved this), they took time before we got into the book to go around the Hollywood Squares of Zoom gallery view and introduce themselves.
Two things came through for me as I listened to their stories about themselves.
- This is not just a book club. It’s a subset of a larger, caring community. These folks like and love each other, and gathering to discuss their latest read is just one aspect of something bigger, that was a joy to see.
- They are all intelligent, accomplished people, most of them retired, who crave, seek out, and make use of opportunities to exercise their minds, feed their spirits, and make the world a little better for their efforts.
I’m not just saying that because they invited me, or because they all said nice things about my book. (Which they did!)
They also asked thoughtful questions, that demonstrated they’d actually read the book, and had taken time to look for deeper meaning in the story.
The most encouraging questions they asked me had to do with my writing process. Do I have trouble keeping the details about all the character straight in my mind?
Yes, I have to keep notes about them.
Did I know from the beginning what was going to happen in the middle and at the end of the book?
Not consciously, but looking back, all the clues and pointers for pretty much the whole story were buried in the first two chapters, and I unearthed for myself while writing the rest.
Do I have images in my head of what the characters look like?
Yes. To help with that, I choose pictures of people from TV and movies that look like the characters as I imagine them.
Who does Rev. Tom look like?
In my mind, he looks like Mark Ruffalo, who plays Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the Avengers movies. Someone in the group had imagined him looking like Tom Hanks. I thought that was good casting.
The most surprising question was, “What’s going to happen to Brad Kazinski?”
Brad is a shadowy, scary crime boss who makes a couple of appearances in The Book of Answers, and who was involved in some dirty deeds with some people connected to St. Mungo’s, the church in the book. He’s the second least likeable character in the story, as far as I’m concerned. He will show up in the sequel, which is tentatively titled “The Book of Strong Suggestions”
Here are their book club questions, and the ones I provided. (Their questions are in italics.)
Overall Impression: Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why (not)?
Plot Line: A mystery novel is often called a “whodunit” story. Who “done it” in this story and exactly what was done?
Characters: The author has created several memorable characters in this book. Who are some of your favourites? Why do they resonate with you?
How would people at your church respond if a body was found in the basement?
In the book, an actual body falls out of a wall but in some churches there are secrets that get buried. If the walls of your church could speak, what might they say?
One theme of the book is “there is almost always a story under the story”. Does that ring true in your own life?
Another theme is “appearance vs. reality”. For some characters in the story, especially Attie, how things look is more important than how things are. Do you know anyone like that?
The book touches on how a fictional United Church congregation lived through tumultuous times in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in the aftermath of the decision to affirm the full membership and ministry of gay and lesbian people. Do you have any memories of that time?
Rev. Tom sees what some might call a ghost in the church sanctuary. He is open to other interpretations. What do you think? Is it imagination? Something else?
Rev. Tom and his daughter Hope are grieving the loss of Carrie. How does their experience of grief touch you?
One reader has said Rev. Tom is too forgiving of those who did him wrong. What do you think?
Several readers said they could visualize streets and neighbourhoods in Oakville as they read the book. How important is the sense of “place” in a work of fiction?
Darrow Woods: Writer of Things 