Too Much Happiness Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Too Much Happiness=Ecstasy? and our BookBrowse Review of Too Much Happiness.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Dimensions
   As in her earlier story "Runaway," Munro examines the effects of the psychological domination of one person by another. Why does Doree visit her husband in jail? Lloyd's letters are a central part of the story: why does his notion that he has seen the children in another "dimension" (page 29) bring a kind of comfort to Doree? Does her thought that Lloyd, "of all people, might be the person she should be with now" (page 30) seem sensible, or dangerous? When she is on her way to the prison once again, Doree miraculously resuscitates a young man: how does this act connect to the title, and what does the final scene suggest about her future?
   
   
2. Fiction
   From whose point of view is this story told, and how does this shape our understanding of events? Edie has "a mind that plods inexorably from one cliché or foolishness to the next . . ." (pages 40–41). How might it be possible for Jon to prefer Edie to Joyce? In part two, how does Joyce feel when she reads about herself in Christie's story? What is revealed by the child's perspective? What does Joyce learn about herself that she hadn't known, or had forgotten? Is it fitting that Christie doesn't remember Joyce?
   
   
3. Wenlock Edge
   Hearing Nina's life story, the narrator says, "Her life made me feel like a simpleton" (page 72). Does this explain the narrator's willingness to comply with Mr. Purvis's requests? Why do you think Munro has chosen "On Wenlock Edge" (from A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad) for the narrator to read to Mr. Purvis? How are the narrator's feelings about literature, poetry, and the university library changed by her encounters with Nina and Mr. Purvis? Why does she send Ernie's address to Mr. Purvis, and what does she gain by doing so? What details or events are most troubling in this story, and why?
   
   
   

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.