Reading guide for A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What is the significance of greyhounds in the story?
2. If you could go back in time and ask one person one question, who would it be and what would you ask?
3. What is the role of the flu in the story? How does it help frame the differences in the four generations of women?
4. Ghosts are represented differently by different authors. If you were writing a ghost story, what would your ghost(s) look like? What would be the details of their haunting? Would they feel the cold, for instance? Be otherworldly-looking or ordinary?
5. What is something all four women in A Greyhound of a Girl have in common? How does this shape the story?
6. The characters in the book, particularly Mary, are often described as "cheeky." How does this character trait impact how the story unfolds?
7. What role do the men (fathers and brothers) play in the book?

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