Book Club Discussion Questions
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Brilliant, fresh, funny, and wise, Allegra Goodman has delighted readers with her short stories in
The New Yorker and her critically acclaimed collections
Total Immersion and
The Family Markowitz. Her celebrated first novel,
Kaaterskill Falls, was a national bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. The novel, wrote Michiko Kakutani in
The New York Times, "ratifies the achievement of the author's short stories, even as it announces the debut of a gifted novelist."
Now, in
Paradise Park, Goodman introduces one of the most endearing, exasperating, and indomitable heroines in modern literature: Sharon Spiegelman. Abandoned by her folk-dancing partner, Gary, in a Honolulu hotel room, Sharon realizes she could return to Boston -- and her estranged family -- or listen to that little voice inside herself. The voice that asks: "How come Gary got to pursue his causes, while all I got to pursue was him?"
Thus, with an open heart, a soul on fire, and her meager possessions (a guitar, two Indian gauze skirts, a macrame bikini, and her grandfather's silver watch) Sharon begins her own spiritual quest: living with the red-footed boobies, embracing the Edenic rain forests of Molokai, seeking enlightenment (with and without men) at the Greater Love Salvation Church, the Consciousness Meditation Center, a couples workshop in Waikiki, the Torah-Or Institute in Jerusalem, and in Professor Friedell's University of Hawaii course on world religions. Ever the optimist, Sharon is sure each time that she has struck it rich "spiritually speaking" -- until she comes up empty.
Then, in a karmic convergence of events, Sharon starts on the path home to Judaism. Still, even as she embraces her tradition, Sharon's irrepressible self tugs at her sleeve. Especially when she meets Mikhail, falls truly in love at last, and discovers what even she could not imagine -- her destiny.
FOR DISCUSSION - What first pushes Sharon on her spiritual quest? What elements in her past life do you think contributed the most to her present journey?
- Why do you think she was so willing at first to just go along with Gary's ambitions? Is this common for many women? Why?
- For a long time Sharon is searching for a glimpse of God. What is getting in the way of that search as she struggles forward? Why is her quest thwarted time and time again?
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- 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 Dell.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
