*~Can't Stop Reading~* discussion

This is for our regular group read in December 2013. Enjoy!

I'm starting today, and just realized that my copy has a number of discussion questions at the end for book clubs. I am relating them here in case they can help spark up conversations. Feel free to answer one, some, or all of them - or bring up your own observations. :)

1.) When Mabel first arrives in Alaska, it seems a bleak and lonely place to her. Does her sense of the land change over time? If so, how?
2.) Why are Jack and Mabel emotionally estranged from each other in the beginning of the novel, and how are they able to overcome that?
3.) How do Esther Benson and Mabel differ in temperament, and how does their friendship change Mabel?
4.) The first time Garrett sees Faina in person is when he spies her killing a wild swan. What is the significance of this scene?
5.) In what ways does Faina represent the Alaskan wilderness?
6.) Jack and Mabel's only child is stillborn. How does this affect Mabel's relationship with Faina?
7.) When Jack is injured, Esther and Garrett move to his farm to help. How does this alter Jack and Mabel's relationship?
8.) Much of Jack and Mabel's sorrow comes from not having a family of their own, and yet they leave their extended family behind to move to Alaska. By the end o the novel, has their sense of family changed? Who would they consider a part of their family?
9.) Death comes in may forms in The Snow Child, including Mabel giving birth to a stillborn infant, Jack shooting a moose, Faina slaying a swan, a fox killing a wild bird, Jack and Mabel slaughtering their chickens, and Garrett shooting the fox. Why is this one of the themes of the book and what is the author trying to say about death?
10.) What do you believe happened to Faina in the end? Who was she?

Just finished. Um..... Question 10: What do you believe happened to Faina in the end? Who was she?

I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOW! Why, oh why, didn't the author spell this out for me. I'm not going to be able to sleep now. This will drive me crazy. What was the significance of there never being any quotation marks when a dialogue sequence involved Faina? WHAT???

Seriously - is anyone else reading this?

I read it last year and really enjoyed it but it has been so long that I find it hard to join into the discussion.

Lauren wrote: "I read it last year and really enjoyed it but it has been so long that I find it hard to join into the discussion."

I totally get that! :)

I've got it on my kindle ready to go. Hoping to start it next week :)

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Just finished. Um..... Question 10: What do you believe happened to Faina in the end? Who was she?

I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOOOW! Why, oh why, didn't the author spell this out for me. I'm not going t..."

Just finished and I can honestly say I completely loved this book!

Q.10 I liked the fact that we didn't get to know the truth about Faina's existence, it added to the magic for me. I think that maybe Faina was a real child who after the death of her father was on the brink of death herself. Mabel and Jack's snow child in fact saved her, transforming her into the magical snow child.

Nice, Kate! That's a wonderful interpretation!

Kate I too loved this book and I agree the end was the only way it could be and it was magical.