Leaving Time #discussion

[wanderingheart]

December 22nd, right?  Time to discuss Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult! I know this book was heavy, especially at the end. 

1. Despite their different backgrounds, Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil form a sort of unconventional family together. What do you think brings them together? 

2. Serenity’s fake psychic readings are successful, she says, because people look for sense in the nonsensical. Do you agree or disagree? If a psychic reading brings someone comfort or helps them grieve, do you think it matters if the message is faked?

3. Alice describes some amazing examples of elephants appearing to exhibit grief and empathy, which are drawn from real–life research. Discuss some of the ways elephant grief is depicted. How is it the same as human mourning? How is it different?

4. One of the major themes of Leaving Time is loss and how to cope with it. Discuss some of the ways the characters in this novel deal with their losses. 

5. Do you think Thomas’s erratic and upsetting behavior justifies Alice’s affair with Gideon? What would you have done in Alice’s place?

6. Jenna compares her search for her mother to Captain Ahab’s search for the whale in Moby-Dick, or Javert hunting Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, saying they are all three defined by their search. Do you agree with this assessment? 

7. Why do you think Serenity loses her gift? And why do you think Jenna is able to help bring it back?

8. Do you believe in ghosts? If you could communicate with anyone who has passed away, who would it be?

[butlerfan]

And I never requested the book....I fail at book club this month.

[wanderingheart]

1. Despite their different backgrounds, Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil form a sort of unconventional family together. What do you think brings them together?

I think their journey to find something - whether it's finding themselves or finding the truth, brings them together. They are all empty in one way because they are missing something in their life. Having a common goal of finding the truth brings them together.

2. Serenity’s fake psychic readings are successful, she says, because people look for sense in the nonsensical. Do you agree or disagree? If a psychic reading brings someone comfort or helps them grieve, do you think it matters if the message is faked?

Oh, definitely. I'm not a personal believer in psychics or any of that, but I think it's a successful business because people are CONSTANTLY looking for answers they never got. They're looking for comfort or answers so badly that sometimes they read into something that may not even be there.

3. Alice describes some amazing examples of elephants appearing to exhibit grief and empathy, which are drawn from real–life research. Discuss some of the ways elephant grief is depicted. How is it the same as human mourning? How is it different?

I think this was one of my favorite parts of the book. I loved reading about the elephants and how they exhibit emotions similar to humans. It blows my mind how they grieve similar to us. Similar to humans, I don't think they ever "get over" their grief but learn to live with it.

4. One of the major themes of Leaving Time is loss and how to cope with it. Discuss some of the ways the characters in this novel deal with their losses.

Denial, big time.

5. Do you think Thomas’s erratic and upsetting behavior justifies Alice’s affair with Gideon? What would you have done in Alice’s place?

I don't think anything justifies an affair. I could understand her leaving him or even falling into the temptation with Gideon, but I still wouldn't say it was justified. As erratic as Thomas was, he had some serious mental health issues that did not warrant his wife cheating on him. He needed help.

6. Jenna compares her search for her mother to Captain Ahab’s search for the whale in Moby-Dick, or Javert hunting Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, saying they are all three defined by their search. Do you agree with this assessment?

I've never read Moby Dick (I know, I know.), but I would agree that all three individuals are defined by their search. They all lose some of their identity in their search.

7. Why do you think Serenity loses her gift? And why do you think Jenna is able to help bring it back?

I think that she loses her gift because she began to doubt herself. She lost her self confidence and probably tuned out her gift. Jenna brought the self confidence back to her and inspired her again.

8. Do you believe in ghosts? If you could communicate with anyone who has passed away, who would it be?

Nope. I believe in demonic spirits, but not ghosts or friendly ghosts. I can't think of anyone I would communicate with.

[risscaboobs]

I suck this month. Didn't read the book.

[teraiin]

1. Despite their different backgrounds, Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil form a sort of unconventional family together. What do you think brings them together?

I think the fact that they're all searching for something they feel like they are missing and if they find it everything will be 'okay'.

2. Serenity’s fake psychic readings are successful, she says, because people look for sense in the nonsensical. Do you agree or disagree? If a psychic reading brings someone comfort or helps them grieve, do you think it matters if the message is faked?

I do agree that people will look to anything when grieving. I'm not really sure if I would say that it matters or doesn't matter if the message delivered is fake. It can be nice to offer comfort to someone, but sometimes that can lead to more problems maybe?

3. Alice describes some amazing examples of elephants appearing to exhibit grief and empathy, which are drawn from real–life research. Discuss some of the ways elephant grief is depicted. How is it the same as human mourning? How is it different?

I find it interesting that elephants will seem to 'pay tribute' or 'respect' to the site of the death of one of their own or stop at the graves. Much like we tend to do that too. Also the fact that elephants seem to recollect so many things from their past.

4. One of the major themes of Leaving Time is loss and how to cope with it. Discuss some of the ways the characters in this novel deal with their losses.

Vices, denial, focusing on 'fixing' the problem rather than accepting it? Of course accepting loss can be very difficult...

5. Do you think Thomas’s erratic and upsetting behavior justifies Alice’s affair with Gideon? What would you have done in Alice’s place?

I'm with wanderingheart, on this. I don't think it justifies an affair (or anything really does). I would like to think that had I been in Alice's place, I probably would have reported Thomas for getting physical since she was told he could only be committed if he hurt her. Or I would have taken my child and left.

6. Jenna compares her search for her mother to Captain Ahab’s search for the whale in Moby-Dick, or Javert hunting Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, saying they are all three defined by their search. Do you agree with this assessment?

I haven't read either of those books. (Or seen the Les Mis movie...) But their search seems to become their identity.

7. Why do you think Serenity loses her gift? And why do you think Jenna is able to help bring it back?

I think because she was focusing too much on what SHE wanted rather than what she could do. Once she failed she started to doubt and it was sort of a spiral from there.

8. Do you believe in ghosts? If you could communicate with anyone who has passed away, who would it be? Again wanderingheart pretty much summed it up.

[ellabee]

I had this book and was going to read it, but after remembering that it was potentially triggering and going through my recent loss I couldn't bring myself to start it. Maybe a few months down the road I'll reconsider and pick it back up. Sorry.