Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Folk and Bluegrass Music and our BookBrowse Review of Before We Sleep.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About this
book
Katey Snow, age seventeen, slips out of her house and into the night. She carries a bundle of
letters between her
mother, Ruth, and an old army friend of her father's.
Katey has just learned
that Oliver, whom she adores, is not her biological father. With this knowledge she takes off,
searching for the man from the letters, who just
might have some answers for her.
In
Before We Sleep, master storyteller Jeffrey Lent tells the intertwining stories of Katey and
Ruth.
As Katey traverses the country,
we learn of Ruth's life with Oliver: courtship, marriage,
separation due to
war
, reconciliation. When Oliver returns, Ru
th finds a changed man, along with
many challenges for their relationship. Still
, over the years Oliver and Ruth find a comfortable
rhythm
until now, as Katey's disappea
rance may irrevocably alter their lives
.
Before We Sleep
is an accomplished
and sweeping
novel about family, secrets and, ultimately,
the meaning of love.
For
discussion
- How does the cover introduce the novel and its themes? Think about the image and the
color scheme in relation to the broader work. Did the cover affect the way you
approached the book? What emotions does the cover evoke in you?
- Discuss the various points of views in the novel. Did you connect particularly to one
POV? What effect do the POV switches have on your reading experience, particularly the
one section devoted
to Oliver's POV
?
- Ruth's first section begins with
a family history of the Hales. Meanwhile, Katey is on a
search to find out more about her parentage.
How does lineage play into
both
Ruth
's
and
Katey's stories?
In what ways is it a comfort and in what ways does it burden them?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Bloomsbury USA.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.