Keeper Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Frontiers of Alzheimer's Research and our BookBrowse Review of Keeper.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Dear Reader:
 
Here are some questions that seem obvious to me, as the author of the book. They're the questions I ask myself, now that I read it again, given the benefit of some distance from the events described.
 
My best to you,
Andrea Gillies 

1. Did Andrea and Chris have any real choice when they offered to take Nancy and Morris into their home? Where would another choice have led the family as a whole?
   
   
2. On what basis does the author rationalize the choice she's made to care for Nancy herself? Is her reasoning sound, or based on idealism and ignorance?
   
   
3. To what extent does the romantic setting - the landscape surrounding the house, and the beauty of the house itself – become metaphorical and emblematic of the progress of the story?
   
   

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