The Seas Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Ocean as Metaphor, Symbol, and Motif in The Seas and our BookBrowse Review of The Seas.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

These are original discussion questions written by BookBrowse.

1. Based on the description of the setting, what expectations did you have for the book? Did you find it comparable to any other books you've read that take place in remote settings?
2. How does the author make the ocean a significant feature of the novel? Did you feel it operated most as a setting, symbol, metaphor, or something else? What does it represent for the narrator?
3. How did the narrator's father's disappearance affect her? How does the author make these effects clear in her characterization?

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