Sounds Like Titanic Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Student Debt and our BookBrowse Review of Sounds Like Titanic.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What is Jessica's relationship with playing the violin? Does she see playing the violin as something different from being a violinist? What is the traditional trajectory to become a classical violinist? How does the author see her own experience playing with The Composer versus being an "actual" professional violinist?
2. Endemic to the narrative is the strange relationship between reality and fantasy, of authenticity and make-believe. How do these dichotomies manifest themselves in Jessica's journey? How does she navigate between what's real and what's smoke and mirrors? Does she see parallels between her own experiences—in college, New York, abroad, and on the road—and what her audiences experience?
3. What are the characteristics of The Composer? How do these characteristics fit our idea of what a composer looks like and allow him to be successful? In what ways are there disconnects between how he appears to his audience and how he appears to the musicians he employs?

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