Recently I mocked some of the delightful and scintillating discussion questions in the book of Robinson Crusoe, and I feel compelled to take up this topic once more. The discussion questions at the back of Life of Pi are equally excellent, hard as that is to believe.
Some of my favorites include:
Nearly everyone experiences a turning point that represents the transition from youth to adulthood, albeit seldom as traumatic as Pi's [ya think?]. What event marked your coming of age?
How might the novel's flavor have been changed if the sole surviving animal had been the zebra with the broken leg? . . . Or the hyena?. . . Which animal would you like to find yourself with on a lifeboat?
Pi imagines that his brother would have teasingly called him Noah. How does Pi's voyage compare to the biblical story of Noah?
I can't help but picture someone taking an essay exam with these questions, and answering that last one with "They both were stuck on boats."
This all does rather beg the question, though, who writes these discussion questions? And more importantly, how can I become one of those people? Seriously. I have lots of insipid ideas to inspire intellectual interchanges at book clubs.
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