America Is Not the Heart Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, A Brief History of The New People's Army and our BookBrowse Review of America Is Not the Heart.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The epigraph of the book is the quote from Carlos Bulosan's America Is in the Heart: "I knew I could trust a gambler because I had been one of them." Why do you think the author chose this particular quote as the epigraph?
2. Though most of the novel is narrated in third person, it begins in the second person "you" perspective. Discuss why the novel begins this way.
3. How does the novel's prologue shape your reading of the rest of the novel?

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