Nightcrawling Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Oakland Police Department Trafficks a Teenager and our BookBrowse Review of Nightcrawling.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. A recurring element in Nightcrawling is the imagery of water, from the swimming pool in Kiara's apartment complex to the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. What do these bodies of water represent to Kiara and how do they manifest themselves in her emotional state throughout the text? Returning to the first and last pages of the novel, how does Kiara's perception of the pool change?
2. Which images of Oakland stand out to you most? How do development and underdevelopment contrast each other within the city? Could your own hometown be described in this way?
3. In the absence of parental figures, Kiara must piece together her own family, reflecting, "Mama used to tell me that blood is everything, but I think we're all out here unlearning that sentiment, scraping our knees and asking strangers to patch us back up" (page 32). Does Kiara succeed in creating a chosen family? Who are the members and how do they support one another?

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