The Literature and Language Book Club will meet from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, September 19 in Room 3N-6 at Harold Washington Library Center to discuss A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.
Here are some discussion questions from litlovers.com to consider as you read:
- Talk about each of the characters—Akhmed, Haava, Sonja, Natasha, Khassan and Ramzan. Do you care about any of them? Whom do you find particularly sympathetic? Do your opinions of any of the characters change over the course of the novel?
- Talk about the characters' religious beliefs or lack of beliefs. How does the war affect the faithful and nonfaithful alike? How would your faith be affected?
- A great deal is made in the novel of the desire for characters to be buried at home. Notes with names and addresses are sewn into clothing so families can be notified and thereby claim the body of the loved one. Why is burial at home so important? Is it a tradition peculiar to that culture or a universal desire?
