Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction
Rebecca Monroe would like to think we're all products of our own personal histories, i.e. what we've experienced. Her husband Alistair thinks we're all products of our family's history, a result of genetic traits passed down from generation to generation. It's an old argument, nurture vs. nature, and something that Alistair studies for a living as a behavioral geneticist. But for Rebecca, there's more at stake in the argument than a career or dissertation: Rebecca's family tree has one branch fewer than most. Her grandmother and grandfather were first cousins in a loveless but childbearing marriage. And her mother killed herself after years of suffering bipolar disorder and the banalities of suburban England circa 1980. Rebecca admits she has two strikes against her where nature's concerned, yet she needs to know: how much of her own personality is a result of her environment? How much of her self can she claim as uniquely her own?
Through scientific reasoning, flashbacks to her childhood, and the well-documented tale of her grandparents' courtship, Rebecca explores the origins of not only her own personality, but the personalities and behaviors of three generations of women. From her grandmother Alicia's illicit and ill-fated romance with a gentle, soft-spoken Jamaican, to her mother and aunt's bitter rivalry over domesticities and domestic partners, Rebecca traces the past and marks any moments where history repeats itself. She's compelled to determine if she is doomed to a predisposed, unhappy fate, or if there's a chance she can escape the outcomes deemed probable by genetic code.
Rebecca Monroe's struggle against both genetic predetermination and learned behavior marks her as an Everyman for anyone who's ever bucked under the weight of "becoming" one's mother or father. Party mystery, part romance, part scientific treatise, Cadwalladr's debut novel,
The Family Tree deftly intertwines multiple storylines while considering a singular question: What makes us "us?"
Discussion Questions
- At the start of The Family Tree we are introduced to Rebecca's early fascination with words and their definitions. This fascination, carried into her adulthood, is fundamental to the book's structure – sections and chapters often begin with definitions of words that relate to the particular section or chapter's content. Discuss the structure of the book and the role of the words Rebecca defines. How do they influence your interpretation of the text? Because she does not often give the entire definition of a word, what is significant about the parts of the definition she does reveal?
- Also essential to the book's structure is Rebecca's exploration of different methods of scientific reasoning, and how each can be applied to her own genetic history to determine probable outcomes for her life. Consider the impact of sections like "Theories of Relativity," "The Science of Happiness," "Occam's Razor," and "The Deductive Fallacy." How do they aid the progress of the plot? Discuss the ways in which they begin to reveal irreconcilable differences between Rebecca and her husband Alistair.
- At the end of the novel, Rebecca reveals the truth about her mother's relationship with Kenneth and her father's relationship with Suzanne. She says, "You can retrofit all you like, but the clues weren't there, I've checked. That's the problem with point-of-view narrative." In light of her theory about point-of-view narrative, discuss the "clues" scattered throughout the book about her relationship with Alistair. How early in the story can we see the relationship's demise? Did her explanation about opposites attracting ever seem valid? How much do we "see" as readers that Rebecca does not as the novel progresses?
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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 Plume.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
