Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar

1. How is the novel's epigraph reflected in its story?
2. The book makes use of different narrative modes: third person limited point of view, first person diary entries, archival documents, and letters. Stories are also created and disseminated in a variety of ways within the novel—through reportage, systematic investigation, visual art, and gossip. How do these methods of storytelling function differently? What do they suggest about the nature of memory and truth?
3. Both Miranda and Kate move from New York City to the small fictional town of Callinas, California, albeit forty years apart. How do similar themes manifest within these two cultural settings and time periods?
4. Describe the depictions of motherhood and maternal figures in the novel. How does mothering impact Miranda's sense of autonomy? What do her diary entries reveal about the societal expectations of motherhood? In turn, how does Kate respond to being mothered?
5. When Jake portrays the Nangussett mental institution in his work, Miranda tells him, "It's not your story" (187). Where else do tensions concerning creative and narrative ownership arise? How are they affected by patriarchal and societal forces?
6. Consider the body of work produced by Miranda, including her use of blood and self-portraiture. How does her visual art complicate her public-facing and personally recounted identity? How does she describe her creative process in different periods of her life?
7. Reflecting upon her relationship with Theo and his children, Kate realizes that, "she sometimes forgot they had this entire life a few hours south" (253). Why do Kate and Theo conceal so much of their inner lives from each other? How does Kate perform her own identity, and how does she project onto the Brands, including Miranda?
8. "Men aren't afraid of misinterpretation. It's not dangerous to them. Women, we know bad things can happen when someone misreads you" (176). Consider Miranda's and Kate's dark histories. In what ways did public humiliation aggravate private traumas for each woman?
9. Some segments of Miranda's diary are included in the novel after Kate loses access to them. What can the reader deduce that Kate is unable to see, about Miranda or herself? What effect does this have on the structure and tone of the novel?
10. In notes from a lecture she gave, Miranda posits that "men control so much of women's lives— homes, finances, sex, happiness, work" (175). How does gender operate within the economic and professional dynamics featured in the novel?
11. To what degree do Miranda and Kate possess power? How does the author complicate patterns of victimhood? Do Miranda and Kate each commit ethical transgressions? Why?
12. How does Kate contend with the resolution of the novel's fundamental mystery? How does her conclusive conversation with Theo, and the ensuing events, frame her previous investigative methods and findings?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of MCD. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.