Telegraph Avenue Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Blaxploitation Movies and our BookBrowse Review of Telegraph Avenue.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. There are many different variations on father-and-son relationships—both real and makeshift—explored in the novel. What might the author be trying to convey through these complicated liaisons?
2. The majority of the characters in the novel are members of some minority group—African American, Jewish, Asian. Would you say thatTelegraph Avenue is fundamentally a novel about race?
3. Like her husband, Archy, Gwen is African American, but of a decidedly different social class, upbringing, and education. How do these differences affect her marriage, as well as her position in this close-knit Oakland community—both in her own view and in the view of others?

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