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Book Group Notes |
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BOOK GROUP NOTES
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The Bower Bird would be a great novel to discuss in a reading group so whether you are involved with a group at a local library, at work or with your friends, these notes should provide a starting point for further discussions.
1. Try to identify some key themes of The Burying Beetle and The Bower Bird. How are they developed throughout the book?
2. What significance does Gussie’s search for her ancestors have to these themes?
3. Discuss the importance of Gussie’s interest in wildlife to some of the themes you have identified.
4. What significance does the sea have in intimations of mortality, or immortality? Can you come up with some examples of other books in which this theme is used?
5. …I’m not too good at heights, but looking through the viewfinder of a camera turns the experience into something quite different. It is a framed image, my own, not a vertigo episode. I can choose what goes into the picture and what stays out of it. Why do you think Gussie likes taking photographs? How is this reflected in the style of the narrative?
6. Discuss the impact of Gussie’s parents’ relationships (with each other, with Gussie, and with others) on her understanding of love, responsibility and betrayal, and the ways in which Gussie reacts to these relationships.
7. What does Gussie think about life and death? Does she believe in an afterlife? How does this affect her attitude to her own life?
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