FOR BOOK CLUBS

Rodale's Online Reading Group Guide
MEET THE AUTHOR

If your book club would like to read and discuss All the Fishes Come Home to Roost, I would be happy to discuss it with you and answer any questions you'd like to ask.

If your club meets in Los Angeles, CA, I can attend your meeting in person, as long as you provide the coffee.

If your club meets elsewhere, you can call me and I will talk to the club over speakerphone.

Please email me at Rachelphoenix2@yahoo.com if you' re interested.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS FOR CLUB DISCUSSION


  1. Although Brown's childhood was quite unhappy, Fishes is often humorous. Why do you think Brown decided to focus on the comical aspects of her life? Does it detract from the sadness, or emphasize it by contrast?
  2. Is there a turning point in the book when it ceases to be funny? If so, where is it, and why do you think Brown decided to alter the tone of the book at that point?
  3. Do you find Brown to be a sympathetic character? What about her parents? Does your view of any of them change over the course of the book? If so, what events or revelations made you understand them better or sympathize with them more?
  4. Much of the book deals with the culture shock caused by living in a foreign country. What examples of that culture shock were illustrated in the book? Do you think Brown stacks the deck in favor of the American residents or the local Indians, or do you think they come across as equally bewildered?
  5. What is the purpose of the four "Interlude" chapters that flash forward to Brown's life after she left India? Do you think those chapters enhance the story?
  6. Has reading this book changed your ideas about India? If so, what were they before, and what are they now?
  7. How does the book depict the deceased and yet omnipresent guru, Meher Baba? What is your opinion of him?
  8. How would you describe Rachel Brown's relationship with her mother and her father? How do those relationships change over the course of the book?
  9. What do you think of the parenting decisions made by Joe and Da-nonna? Should they have taken their daughter to the ashram? Once she was there, was there anything they could have done differently that might have made it a better experience?
  10. How is Brown influenced by the culture and history of India in general and Ahmednagar in particular, and how is she influenced by the culture of the ashram? Which is the bigger influence on her thinking?
  11. Describe the role of books and reading in Fishes.
  12. How would you characterize Joe and Da-nonna? Does Rachel Brown resemble either of them? If so, how?
  13. Brown asks the question, "Do we shape our experiences, or are we shaped by them?" How does this relate to the book as a whole? How does it relate to the lives of Brown and her parents?