Tuesday, June 16, 2015

A Great and Terrible Beauty Read-a-Long: Mid-Point Discussion


Here is a guide we can use for our discussions as a jumping off point. By no means do we need to be constrained by these questions. Please be warned...the questions may contain ****SPOILERS****.

1. Despite visions and a special destiny, Gemma is not so unlike the other girls at Spence in her feelings of alienation and her yearning for acceptance. Gemma’s need to fit into her new school leads to her being locked in the chapel in the middle of the night. Would you have made the same choice? Have you ever done something you didn’t want to do, to get someone to like you? Have you ever taken advantage of someone who wanted you to like him or her?

2. The Realms are a place where anything seems possible. Each of the four girls wants one thing above all else: Felicity desires power, Pippa seeks love, Ann wants beauty, and Gemma craves self-knowledge. Does any of the characters achieve her goal by the end of the story? Why or why not? What would you want?

3. Gemma says of Felicity, “I don’t yet know what power feels like. But this is surely what it looks like, and I think I’m beginning to understand why those ancient women had to hide in caves. Why our parents and teachers and suitors want us to behave properly and predictably. It’s not that they want to protect us; it’s that they fear us” (p. 207). What kind of power is Gemma talking about? What is it that she thinks the parents and teachers and suitors fear?

4. Women. Power. These two words conjure many images and emotions, and they appear throughout A Great and Terrible Beauty. What connections does Libba Bray draw between the two words? How does she characterize the Victorians’ view of powerful women? How do you think powerful women are viewed today?

5. Bray paints the Victorian age as a time when appearances must be kept up at all times. Appearances matter more than reality, and anything interesting is kept a secret. For example, Gemma’s family hides the nature of Virginia Doyle’s death to avoid scandal. Likewise, in the Realms, appearances are deceiving. Gemma, Ann, Pippa, and Felicity believe their dreams are coming true–but is that really the case? What do you think the author meant by drawing a parallel between reality and paradise? Is it ever really possible to escape or change reality?


6. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said, “Bray brilliantly depicts a caste system, in which girls are taught to abandon individuality in favor of a man’s wishes, as a deeper and darker horror than most things that go bump in the night.” Do you think Gemma has achieved a certain freedom by the end of the novel? Are her supernatural powers responsible for bringing about this freedom? Do you think she would have been such a rebel if it hadn’t been for her magic?

7. In Diary of an Author on www.AGreatandTerribleBeauty.com, Libba Bray says, “Why do we do this to our girls? Why do we spend a lifetime whittling them down into bite-sized nuggets, something easily digested that will upset no stomach? Why can’t we allow them to ask for what they want?” Does the novel answer that question? If so, how? Do you believe that conditions for women have improved over the past hundred years?

8. The girls of Spence have a great deal of adult supervision, but there is a glaring absence of parental love. What role does this absence play in Gemma’s and her friends’ lives and the choices they make? Do you think Pippa would have made a different choice had her parents behaved differently? How would Gemma’s and Felicity’s lives be changed if their fathers were available–in Gemma’s case mentally, and in Felicity’s case physically? What about Ann?

9. It’s a dream, only a dream,” Gemma thinks of her sexually charged encounter with Kartik (p. 219). Why do you think Gemma stops the fantasy when she does? Why do you think the author chose to make this scene a dream rather than a reality? Do you believe this makes Gemma’s experience any less “real” to her?

10. The Realms’ answer to Gemma’s desire for self-knowledge is Virginia Doyle. Why do you think Gemma must understand her mother in order to understand herself? Gemma concludes, “I’m going to have to let her go to accept the mother I’m only just discovering” (p. 394). How are the two mothers Gemma refers to different? Why does Gemma have to forgive her mother first if she is to understand her?

These questions are from http://www.bookbrowse.com/ and were reprinted there with the permission of Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers.

Discuss your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Sunday, May 31, 2015

The MEGA Perpetual Reading Challenge Read-a-Long/Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty Read-a-Long


In order to increase group interaction (and participation) within this reading challenge, as well as the three other perpetual challenges I host, I've decided to host this MEGA read-a-long event. For The Fantasy Project part of the read-a-long, which is coming in June, I chose A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I went through all of your lists and it seemed this was one of the books that most of us (not all) have on our lists. If you don't have it on your list, you can still join us whether you end up adding it to your list or not. Also, feel free to join in on the other read-a-longs. You do not have to sign up for the other reading challenges to join in on the read-a-longs.

The hub for the entire event will be at my The True Book Addict blog but the individual read-a-longs will be hosted at their respective blogs (I will list those below). The Libba Bray read-a-long will be hosted here at the main Fantasy Project blog and I will also post the discussions in our Goodreads group. Look for a page in the menu at The True Book Addict which serves as this MEGA read-a-long's hub.

So, here is the schedule of read-a-longs and their respective blog urls:

June 2015: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - hosted here and in Goodreads group.

July/August 2015: The Covenant by James A. Michener - hosted at The Michener Challenge blog.

September 2015: The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice - hosted at The Never-Ending Anne Rice Challenge blog.

October 2015: Salem's Lot by Stephen King - hosted at The Stephen King Challenge blog.


Now, here is the reading schedule for A Great and Terrible Beauty. We start reading today, June 1st! We will have two discussions...at midway point and at the end. 

June 1-14:  Read pages 1 - 205 (Ch. 1 - 17)
June 15:  Stop by and discuss here or at the Goodreads group.
June 16-29: Read pages 206 - end (Ch. 18 - 39)
June 30: Stop by and discuss here or at the Goodreads group.

I hope you will join me...for this one, or all of the read-a-longs. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions or comments.

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