Consumption Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Rankin Inlet & The Inuit and our BookBrowse Review of Consumption.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The narrator states “any conviction that technology inevitably demeans humans fails on contemplating what must have been the misery of that life,” referring to the Dorset Inuit, who lacked the sophisticated tools of the later Thule Inuit.How do you think contemporary Inuit, as they are portrayed in Consumption, feel about technology?
   


2. In both the Sanitorium scene and in the depiction of Amanda’s friends the boys seem more displaced, more adrift than the girls. Are girls and women affected differently by rapid cultural change than men and boys? Do you find this portrayal convincing?
   


3. Why was Penny so desperate to find Pauloosie after he went out on the land? Would he have made different decisions had he known her state?
   

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.