Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction to Something Rotten
With her Lorem Ipsum-spouting son, Friday, in tow, Thursday returns to her
Swindon home to resume her quest to reactualize her husband, Landen Parke-Laine.
As a final favor to her Jurisfiction colleagues, Thursday also escorts
Shakespeare's Hamlet on a public relations field trip to the real world so he
can ponder why he has been misrepresented as a "ditherer."
Much has changed in Swindon since she left—the Goliath Corporation has
branched out from corporate domination into religious domination, rogue book
character Yorrick Kaine has mysteriously risen to power as right-wing chancellor
of England, and thirteenth-century saints are resurrecting themselves all over
the country. Swindon's very own patron saint, the foulmouthed St. Zvlkx, returns
to Swindon in front of a shopping center just as he predicted in his Book of
Revealments. St. Zvlkx's uncannily precise Revealments also predict that the
downfall of the mighty Goliath corporation is inextricably linked to a seemingly
impossible Swindon Mallets win at the upcoming SuperHoop championship.
Upon her return, Thursday finds herself at the wrong end of a sniper's rifle.
Her would-be assassin turns out to be a deadly hitwoman who goes by the name the
Windowmaker and also happens to be her good friend Spike's wife. Thursday
suspects that Yorrick Kaine has contracted for the Windowmaker's services,
because Thursday is one of the few people in the real world who can reveal his
true identity and deport him back to the BookWorld. Kaine seems to have the
entire country under his spell, and even Thursday finds herself being charmed
into confusion by his unnatural charisma. Kaine and his conniving pals at
Goliath will stop at nothing to make sure St. Zvlkx's prediction doesn't come
true. As the octogenarian President of England's death draws near, Thursday must
find a way to take Yorrick Kaine back to fiction before the Windowmaker takes
her out of action.
Reading Guide
- After two years of being head of Jurisfiction, Thursday decides that she
needs to return to the real world. What are her reasons for returning to the
real world? What does the real world have to offer her that the BookWorld
does not?
- Is Hamlet a "ditherer"? Is he the most indecisive character in
Shakespeare? Why do people find him so fascinating? What are his "inner
motivations"?
- Thursdsay explains the imaginotransference technology of books to Hamlet
by saying, "Well, each interpretation of an event, setting, or
character is unique to each of those who read it because they clothe the
author's description with the memory of their own experiences." Do you
agree with this statement? What characteristics do the best novels have in
common? Is the readers' ability to connect the characters to their personal
lives the most important aspect?
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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 Penguin.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
