The Place Between Breaths Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Schizophrenia-focused Labs and Research Centers and our BookBrowse Review of The Place Between Breaths.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. As the novel begins, An Na suggests that perception is reality. "What lives and breathes as reality is a perception, so who is to say what is possible and impossible?" What does Na mean by this? Who is the narrator of this chapter? To whom is the narrator speaking?
2. The Place Between Breaths is a narrative told from many points of view. With Grace as a first-person narrator, what are some things readers discover or understand especially well about her? Yet, because of her first-person viewpoint, what are some things Grace cannot understand or share with readers? How do the chapters written in second- and third-person narratives affect the unfolding of the story? Discuss.
3. An Na describes the place between breaths as "Not death. Not life. A limbo state of existence . . . the middle place that exists between breaths, in that pause, that slight breathlessness before an exhale and an inhale. Between the crest and the valley. Where the path always meanders cliffside." How would you describe this in your own words?

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