Force of Nature Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Australia's National Parks and our BookBrowse Review of Force of Nature.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The legacy passed from one generation to the next, is a theme throughout Force of Nature. Falk has an idea of who his father was, but his colleague Carmen has another take. Do you think Falk was wrong about his father?
2. How much do you think parents in this novel should hold responsibility for their children's actions? Joel Bailey uploads intimate images of Margot Russell. Margot bullies Rebecca until she becomes anorexic. How do their parents deal with this?
3. "It was like stepping into a fun house mirror. Two faces, each a distorted reflection of the other, looked up in unison." Identical twins Beth and Bree are not the only mirror image in Force of Nature. Alice tells Lauren to "buy a mirror" to understand Rebecca. Two chapters "mirror" one another - they start with the same paragraph although they appear at the beginning and end of the novel. And the narrative begins and ends at Mirror Falls. Why do you think mirrors are such a potent piece of imagery in the novel?

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