Reading guide for The Poet's House by Jean Thompson

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What factors do you think contribute to Carla feeling stuck and unhappy? How much do you think is coming from herself, and how much is due to the people around her? How are the two intertwined? If you have had a phase in your life when you felt stuck, how did you overcome it?
2. What is it about Viridian that speaks so much to Carla?
3. To what extent does social class, or perceived social class, play a role in how Carla is treated by others?
4. What do you think of Viridian's decision(s) in relation to Mathias's work?
5. In what ways does Mathias's relationship with Viridian circumscribe her career and reputation as a poet? Can you think of other relationships between famous artists that influenced the trajectory and reputation of the woman?
6. What do you think of Viridian's characterization of poetry and talent in this exchange with Carla:

   "You think writing poems has something to do with talent? Not much at all. It has to do with pure, stubborn determination to keep doing it, to not be discouraged by the thousand thousand things that are meant to discourage you. Nobody cares if you do it or not. No guarantees that anybody is going to read any of it."
   "But that hasn't stopped you."
   "Because I have been absolutely selfish about my art. Do you know how hard it is for a woman to be selfish?"

7. Have you ever been to a writers' retreat? If so, did this portrayal match your experience, and in what ways? If not, were you surprised by how Thompson describes it?
8. Carla says she feels "the ache and hunger that can both be awakened and soothed by a poem." How would you describe her ache and hunger? When have you felt this, and with what poem? Was it related to a moment in your life that you can remember?
9. Oscar Blanco says, quoting William Carlos Williams, "It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there" (p. 24). What does he mean for Carla and Aaron to take away from this?
10. What do you think of Carla and Aaron's relationship? Do you sense a power imbalance, and if so, why?
11. Carla's mother tells her, "Women can't get away with things the way men can" (p. 20). Why does she say this to her—what is she hoping to teach her daughter
12. What did you think of the book's ending? How has Carla changed? What has she discovered about herself? How has Aaron changed?

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