Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Introduction
An electrifying follow-up to her bestselling
I Was Amelia Earhart,
Jane Mendelsohn's
Innocence is a modern gothic coming-of-age story, a
devastating x-ray of American culture, and a piercing exploration of the inner
life of a teenage girl growing up in New York City. Narrated with incisive wit
by fourteen-year-old Becket, the novel traces her relationship with her widowed
father, her encounters with the intimidating Beautiful Girls at school, her
attraction to the mysterious and dangerous school nurse, her attachment to the
raffish Tobey, and a series of devastating nightmares that threaten Becket's
life as she moves from girl to woman.
Mendelsohn has written an allegory about the precarious state of the American
teenager in a culture that sucks the life force out of its young, who are
nurtured by movies and fantasy and narcissism rather than by values such as
honesty or love. This is a world as startlingly original and hauntingly familiar
as our dreams, where the line between fantasy and reality, between sanity and
insanity, is razor-thin. Playful, frightening, profound, and gripping,
Innocence
is that rare thing--a page-turner with the depth of poetry and the immediacy of
cinema.
Discussion Questions
- Toward the end of Innocence, Beckett says, "What matters
isn't whether something is real. What matters is if it is true."
What do you think she means? What might the difference be between a
"real" story and a "true" story? What do you think the
author wants you to believe about this story?
- Beckett's relationship with Pamela is complicated by her need for a mother
figure and conflicting fear of losing her father. Discuss the way in which
her feelings change when she starts menstruation. Does this event bring her
closer to Pamela? Is her relationship with her father affected? If so, how?
- As Beckett matures physically, she becomes more beautiful. But she also
begins to suffer dark visions and bleak thoughts. What do you think
Mendelsohn is implying about the relationship between youth and
innocence/maturity and worldliness? How else does she demonstrate this theme
in the book?
📖
Get the full reading guide
Join BookBrowse free to unlock all 10 discussion questions, author background, themes, and more for Innocence.
Join free — it takes 30 seconds
Already a member? Log in →
- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
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.
