Book Club Discussion Questions
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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Why Quebec Speaks French and our BookBrowse Review of Bury Your Dead.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
- What are the three story lines, and how do they feed into each other? What
are the connections?
- What do you think of the structure of the story, with the shifting time
frames and points of view? How did the gradual unfolding of what really
happened to Agent Morin and Chief Inspector Gamache affect your view of
those events?
- How do you feel about the resolution of the crime in Three Pines?
- Why does the Battle of the Plains of Abraham have such an impact on
Gamache?
- Both Gamache and Agent Morin greatly valued their relationships with
their mentors, Emile Comeau and Gamache himself. Do you think they
were right to do so?
- Does the relationship between the French and the English in Québec have
any parallels in your community? How do you feel about such
relationships—both in the book and in your own experience?
- René Dallaire calls Québec "a rowboat society….We move forward, but
we’re always looking back." Does your community have a strong sense of
the past? How dangerous is it to remember history, and how dangerous is
it not to?
- Throughout the book, Gamache is haunted by his own mistakes. How do
you view those mistakes, and the way he deals with the aftermath?
- Gamache is also haunted by the line from an old song, avec le temps: "with
the passage of time." What do you think about the healing powers of time?
- If you have read some or all of Louise Penny’s earlier books, how do you see
both the books and the characters evolving?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of St. Martin's Griffin.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
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