Fox Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Edgar Allan Poe's Marriage to Virginia Clemm and our BookBrowse Review of Fox.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

These are original discussion questions written by BookBrowse.

1. Fox begins with several of our main characters passing by or interacting with Mr. Fox's body. Why do you think Oates chose to open with these characters' perspectives?
2. The novel often jumps back and forth across time. Did you find this disorienting, and if so, do you think it was intentional on the part of the author? What other effects did the nonlinear timeline have on your experience of reading the book?
3. Wieland Township is rapidly gentrifying. Do you believe the presence of institutions like Langhorne Academy is ultimately helpful or harmful to communities like Wieland? Do you feel that Oates was critiquing this presence with Fox, or not?

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