Rebellion Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Boxer Rebellion and our BookBrowse Review of Rebellion.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. In what ways do each of the main characters — Addie, Louisa, Hazel, and Juanlan — rebel? What are they rebelling against?
2. Both the opening and closing chapters are distinctive in presenting self-contained stories. How do the "Driving" sections relate to the book's themes, characters, or plots?
3. The novel's storylines concern more than a century of relations between China and the West. Previous to reading the novel, what did you know about missionaries in China, the Boxer Rebellion, or America's 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade? How did that knowledge (or lack of knowledge) affect your reading?

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