|
SAVING CICADAS
Reviews and Buzz
Overview
Book Trailer
Read an Excerpt
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book
Club Questions
A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS
Reviews and Buzz
Overview
Read an Excerpt
Book Trailer
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book
Club Questions
TROUBLE THE WATER
Reviews and Buzz
Overview
Read an Excerpt
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book Club Questions
THE SPIRIT OF SWEETGRASS
Reviews and Buzz
Overview and Origin
Read an Excerpt
Buy the Book
Reader's Guide/Book Club Questions
Gullah/Sweetgrass links
Recent Progress in
Gullah/Geechee and sweetgrass culture
RECOMMENDATIONS
A Partial List of Authors/Books I Adore
|
books - A Hundred Years of
Happiness
 Reader's
Guide/Book Club Questions
- Discuss the poem at the beginning of this book. Who
is the Mistress of War? What role does “she” play in the
novel?
- In A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS, the past begins to
come back for John Porter. Do you think it ever left him? Have you
or someone you loved experienced the lasting effects of war? Discuss.
- Describe the life of Katherine Ann. When she takes
it upon herself to help her father deal with his past, whom do you
think she is really trying to help?
- The Water Lilies are an important part of both Betty
Jo’s and Katherine Ann’s lives. Have you ever known such
a group of friends?
- What happens to Katherine Ann when her inner self becomes
troubled? Do you believe this is common?
- Water is prominent in this book. Discuss its symbolism
as well as “being waterlogged” and “drowning”
in A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS.
- When Doan Vien stops speaking, how does Lisa try to
reconnect with her mother? Is she also attempting to connect with
her motherland?
- When we are introduced to Lisa, she steps out of the
shower and into the “blurriness” of her life. She says,
“I’m neither here nor there.” Discuss how someone
can be neither here nor there.
- In your opinion, which character in this book has had
the most difficult life? By the end of the novel, whose life had changed
the most?
- Discuss the Cinderella-like fairy tale, Tam and Cam,
from Chapter 13. How does it relate to this story, and in specific,
Doan Vien?
- Betty Jo is a private person but opens up to the Water
Lilies about matters of the heart. Do you think her mistrust is warranted?
Why or why not?
- Ernest lives in a different world from the other characters.
Discuss his world. Who is Brother Chong? Who is Eldest Fish?
- What is the true desire of Ernest’s heart? Does
he find what he’s looking for? How is he connected to John Porter?
- The Vietnamese culture is rich with food, customs,
and beliefs in afterlife. Discuss how this culture affects aspects
of Doan Vien’s and Lisa’s lives.
- The main characters in A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS
live in their own realities. Discuss the concept of “reality
verses deception”. What can we learn about our own lives in
this regard?
- Who is speaking in the Prologue? “Upon reading,
you will find your own place in this story.” Did you find your
own place in this story?
- There are many secrets in this novel.
By the end of the book, does anyone still harbor a secret?
|
