Dear Life Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Alice Munro's Canada and our BookBrowse Review of Dear Life.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

"To Reach Japan"

1. What are Greta's feelings toward her husband and her marriage as she is leaving for Toronto? What remains unspoken between them?
2. Discuss what Katy understands and experiences on this journey. What does Katy feel about Greg, and then about Harris Bennett? Why does Munro end the story as she does, with Katy pulling away from her mother? Does the story suggest that there is an inevitable cost when a woman attempts to break through the limitations of her life?
3. Discuss the paragraph beginning, "It would become hard to explain, later on in her life, just what was okay in that time and what was not", in light of Greta's actions. She is a poet: How troubling is the gap between her identities as wife and mother, and as poet and artist?

"Pride"

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.