The Correspondent Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Novels About Late-Life Romance and our BookBrowse Review of The Correspondent.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. "But the worst dream, the one that repeats, is that I sit down at the desk to write and there is the stack of letter writing paper, there are my pens, there are the envelopes, and I'm pawing at them like a cat, but I cannot pick them up... . I can't write." Sybil states this early on in the narrative, about the dreams she is having as she deals with going blind. What did this tell you about her character early on?
2. Sybil is not only a fanatic for the art of letter writing but she holds classic forms of communication in high regard (she tells James that she still reads the newspaper "in print, adequately edited, without the muck of advertisements blinking away"). What value do you see in these older forms of communicating? Are there things you wish were still mainstream that have been replaced by modern tech?
3. Sybil often remarks in her letters that they are follow-ups to phone calls or in lieu of calls so that she can compose her thoughts. What, do you find, are the benefits of writing out thoughts instead of a call? How do you think it helps Sybil to deal with the strained relationships in her life?

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