The Last Animal Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, De-extinction Projects: The Example of the Auroch and our BookBrowse Review of The Last Animal.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The Last Animal tells the story of Jane, a female scientist, and her two teenage daughters, Eve and Vera, who engage in a wild scientific experiment—and end up learning about themselves in the process. What preexisting tensions within the family are brought out by this experiment?
2. Eve and Vera have very different personalities and roles in the family but are extremely close. At one point, Vera thinks, "As the first born, it was [Eve's] job to be the icebreaker ship, plowing through her mother's good intentions. Fifteen was old enough to brew stronger, higher-value anger. Vera's version, at thirteen, was only a mixer." How would you characterize each of them? How much of their personalities, outlooks, and behaviors did you see as being an effect of birth order or past experience? How do their individual personalities shape the story?
3. When the novel opens, the girls' father, Sal, has been dead for one year. How do Jane, Eve, and Vera's feelings about Sal's death evolve over the course of the story? Consider how they each find closure around his loss. What do you think the novel is saying about grief and legacy?

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