What is the book about? Does Turning the Tide have a central theme? If so what? Does it have many themes? If so how do they interlink? Is one theme more dominant than others? Do the themes blend naturally with the storyline or do you feel the author is using her characters to labor a particular point?
What time period is it set in? Is this a period you know anything about? Would you have liked to live in this time? What would be the advantages and disadvantages?
Where does it take place?
Do the location and environment of the book color the telling of the story or are they merely a backdrop? Does the location change during the book or stay the same? If it changes, does this have any effect on the central characters?
What do you know about the author? Has Edith brought her own experience to the book? Is it similar to other books the author has written? is it similar in style to other books by her, and she author show any growth or change in style between books?
Where does it take place? Do the location and environment of the book color the telling of the story or are they merely a backdrop? Does the location change during the book or stay the same? If it changes, does this have any effect on the central characters?
Who are the key characters? Do one or more of the characters tell the story? If so, how do their own circumstances color the telling? Do you empathize with the characters? Are their voices genuine, are they believable? Does the voice of a character set in a particular place or time ring true? Are the characters or their circumstances familiar to you?
What do the characters do? Are their actions consistent with their characters? If not, perhaps ask yourself if it is reasonable for anyone to be expected to act consistently in character? Do you find their actions troubling?How would you act in a similar situation? Do their experiences cause them to grow? If so, how?
Project into the future. What do you think will happen to the characters next? Does the author plan a sequel? Would you read a sequel?
Compare and Contrast. Have you read other similar books? Perhaps books by the same author or with a similar theme, or set in the same time period? (Be careful with this topic not to stray too far into other books, otherwise the majority of the group may find themselves out of the loop listening to a small number of discussing the relative merits of books that the rest haven’t read.)
What did you like or dislike?
Did you like the book or not? Did you enjoy it? Is it possible to find a book interesting without ‘enjoying’ it? If you didn’t like it, why not, what what sort of person do you think would? Had you read reviews before reading it? If so, do you find yourself agreeing with the ‘official’ reviewers or not? Do you think the book jacket synopsis and jacket illustration do a good job of indicating the type of book it it? Would you give it as a gift? If so, who would you give it to? Can you see yourself reading it again? Is this book a ‘keeper’ – if you had to halve the size of your book collection would this be one of the books that stayed or went?
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