Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
About This Book
These tales weave around the idea of love—love to seek and love to flee; love
as desire, as guilt, as confusion or self-betrayal; love as habit, as affair,
and as life-changing rebellion. With remarkable deftness, intelligence and
sensitivity, Schlink exposes the dark places of his characters' hearts and
minds as he follows them from the Berlin Wall to the foggy Oregon coast, from
Park Avenue to Central America. As his many fans know from
The Reader,
Schlink's power as a storyteller resides in his cool compassion and in the
moral intelligence that he wields like a laser to penetrate human motives and
behavior. Here his subject is not history but the heart itself, and in
Flights
of Love we find an assured and unforgettable view of love and its myriad
difficulties.
- "Girl with Lizard"
What gets in the way of the narrator's emotional life? What is the effect
of his parents' relationship upon his own relationships with women? Is it
surprising to learn that his own conception was the result of the rape of his
mother by his father? Why is the mother so assiduous in defending the husband
she didn't love or respect? What is the nature of the mother's moral
failure?
How does the narrator's obsession with the painting link him irrevocably
to his parents, and particularly to the crimes of his father? Toward the end of
the story the narrator realizes, "just as had been the case at home, the
painting was a treasure, a mystery, a window onto beauty and freedom, and at the
same time a commanding, controlling power to whom sacrifices would have to be
made" [p. 51]. Why does he burn the painting? Why does Schlink include the
revelation that the painting the boy and his father loved was a façade, a
concealing device?
- "A Little Fling"
What is the relationship between the wife's betrayal of her
husband—seducing their good friend—and the husband's betrayal of his
wife—giving information to the Stasi, the East German secret police? Is one
betrayal ethically more acceptable than the other?
Why does Paula make love to the narrator? Despite the upheaval caused by
Sven's ill-judged desire to protect his wife and child, is his marriage still
quite stable? To what degree has the narrator been, all along, more naive than
either of his friends? How does this story expose the contamination of intimate
relationships by the culture of state-sponsored spying?
- "The Other Man"
What was the nature of the relationship between Lisa and Rolf? Why might
Lisa have been attracted to him?
Why is the daughter's angry evaluation of her father's habitual
self-absorption necessary for the reader's understanding of his marriage? Is
the narrator, newly retired from his work, driven to such lengths in his pursuit
of "the other man" mainly by revenge, jealousy, curiosity, or merely
idleness?
Is Rolf merely a con-man, a showoff, a loser? What are the most striking
differences between his character and that of the narrator? Why does the
narrator decide not to humiliate Rolf at the dinner party? What does the
narrator ultimately learn about Rolf, and about himself?
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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 Vintage.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
