The Watchmaker of Filigree Street Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Chromesthesia and our BookBrowse Review of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The novel switches between years and moments in history from London in the 1880s to Japan in the 1870s. What effect does this shift in location and time have on the reader? To what extent does it produce a globalist vision of history?
2. Nationalism takes several forms in this novel, yet these forms are similar in many ways. Consider the different instances of nationalism, particularly those of the Irish and of the Japanese. How do these views differ? Does the novel offer sympathy or skepticism for their projects?
3. "All the same, [Thaniel] had a feeling that life should not have been about ten candles and two baths a week." Discuss Thaniel's life before and after his meeting with Mori. What has changed, if anything? Argue either for or against Thaniel's transformation and development as a character with this passage and its articulation of Thaniel's somber prospects in mind.

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