Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the Book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Above The Thunder.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
The introduction, discussion questions, suggested reading list, and
author biography that follow are designed to enhance your group's
discussion of the unforgettable Above the Thunder, an astonishing
debut novel which explores the subtle, treacherous line between living
and dying and captures in gorgeously rendered language the unexpected
entanglements of the heart that can transform a life forever.
Introduction
Devastated
by the loss of her beloved husband and numb over the callous
disappearance of her drug-addicted daughter, Anna has buried her grief
in her medical work and wants nothing more than to be left blissfully
alone. Yet when her son-in-law and the ten-year-old granddaughter who
she has never met arrive on her doorstep, bereft and hoping to stay
awhile, Anna's world shifts irrevocably. Despite her attempts to
maintain a protective distance from the newcomers, Anna is hopelessly
beguiled by the child Flynn, whose dark and fanciful imagination thinly
veils the scars of a damaging childhood.
Anna's life takes another unforeseen trajectory when she meets Jack, an
AIDS patient reluctantly participating in a discussion group Anna is
coordinating. Engaged in a brutal, private struggle with his
mortalityand the questionable choices that have landed him with the
virusJack recognizes in Anna a conflicted soul and a kindred spirit.
Soon the unlikely duo, with Flynn in tow, set up a makeshift home in
rural Maine, in search of peace, renewal, and the opportunity for
healing. Heartbreak hovers close, however. As Flynn's obsession with
death and reincarnation spirals toward a dangerous brink, Anna, Jack,
and the friends they call family discover both the limits of devotion
and the transformative power of tragedy.
Funny, wise, and often chilling, Above the Thunder offers an
utterly unique take on loyalty, survival, the various incarnations of
faith, and the ultimate search for home that drives us all.
Reader's Guide
Suggested Reading
Majgull Axelsson, April Witchtch; Julia Glass, Three Junes; Brian
Hall, The Saskiad; Kent Haruf, Plainsong; Ann Napolitano,
Within Arm's Reach; Mark Spragg, An Unfinished Life;
Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness; Tim Winton, The Riders.
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Anchor Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
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