A Map of Glass Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of A Map of Glass.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Jane Urquhart doesn't title individual chapters, instead she divides her novel into three large sections: "The Revelations"; "The Bog Commissioners"; "A Map of Glass". Look at each of these sections and discuss why it is given that particular title. The name of the second section, "The Bog Commissioners," is at first mysterious because Joseph Woodman only stayed in Ireland as a bog commissioner for less than half a year. But something of the mentality or attitude he demonstrates in Ireland travels with him to Canada, and it informs other characters too. What is that attitude, and how does it play out in the novel? When discussing the name of the last section, "A Map of Glass," also consider why Urquhart chose that as the title of the book.
2. The epigraph of the novel tells us that the "logical, two dimensional picture" provided by a diagram, plan, or map "rarely looks like the thing it stands for." Which characters make maps or diagrams? What function do they serve? How do they relate to some of the book's central concerns? What makes a "true" map?
3. In the short preface [pp. 1-5], where we meet Andrew walking in the snow as an older man, he ruminates on many of the novel's important themes and ends by saying, "I have lost everything." Now that you've finished the novel, re-read the preface and identify the issues, and even the words, that will dominate and unify the book.

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