The Original Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (1434) and our BookBrowse Review of The Original.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

These are original discussion questions written by BookBrowse.

1. Were you familiar with any of the real-world art mentioned in The Original, like Courbet's Le Sommeil, or Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait, before encountering them in the book? Did you look up any of the paintings? What are your thoughts on the paintings themselves or how Stevens integrated them into the text?
2. What do you think the Arnolfini portrait represents for Grace? Why does she feel so overwhelmed by it? Do you think she struggles with copying it for reasons beyond the technical difficulty?
3. Could you relate to Grace's desire for freedom and her frustrations in pursuing it? Did you find yourself rooting for her in her forgery attempts, or did you have different ideas about what she should do?

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.