The Blender Book Club discussion
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Moonglow
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November 2019 - Moonglow
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few pages to fall under the story's spell, and to wish you'd known his grandfather.
I enjoyed the book very much.To me, the 'message' of the book was "At what point does the (fictional) life someone is leading become so much of a strain that it becomes impossible to live?"
Obviously, it didn't work for grandmother, as she went insane trying to make her actual life agree with her 'real' life.
OTOH, it worked fine for grandfather, & mostly for the kids. It was close enough to what they were looking for as a framework for life so that it was of lesser importance. Grandfather had enough problems of his own trying to be a 'good father' etc. to overlook it.
Why do people accept the lives they are given? What value does 'the Truth' have in a life? Society is a 'construct' people build for themselves, because it makes it easier to work together as a community and integrate children into that society. If society works for the people involved, what difference does it make if it is 100% true or not. At what point would 'Truth' make a difference?
Hi all! Our meeting is this Wednesday, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone makes of the many, many different threads in Moonglow. I know it's a bit longer than our usual selections (I still have 230 pages to go myself 😬) and that many of you are working through Travis's book this week as well, but hopefully Chabon's playful style is making the pages pass quickly.Looks like Donna is scheduled to provide snacks this month. As ever, feel free to share any impressions about the book here before or after the in-person meeting! I'll post my discussion questions on Wednesday as well.
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Lucy wrote: "Zach, I don't think Donna is able to come tomorrow nite -- shall I bring a treat?"That would be appreciated if it's not too much trouble!
Lucy wrote: "Will do -- see you tonite"Thanks, Lucy!
As promised, some discussion questions:1) What did you make of Chabon’s grandfather? What are his defining characteristics? Did you like him? Did you relate to him?
2) Do you think this novel is really as factually-based as Chabon implies? If not, how does this change your perception of the book? Why might Chabon have chosen to frame the novel this way?
3) What did you make of Chabon’s grandmother and her relationship with his grandfather? How did your understanding of her shift after the revelation about her past?
4) What does this book have to say about marriage and romantic relationships? Did you find the novel’s view of love to be more optimistic or pessimistic? In the end, was Chabon’s grandparents’ marriage a good one?
5) How did you interpret the Wernher von Braun subplot? What did von Braun symbolize for Chabon’s grandfather, and how did his role change over the course of the novel?
6) What does this novel have to say about Jewish identity? How did the different character respond to their Jewishness? How did it define them, or not?
7) Rockets and the moon are two of the most prominent motifs throughout this novel. What do you think these symbols represent to Chabon? To the characters?
8) Why do you think Chabon chose to plot the book non-chronologically? How does this benefit the story? How might the book have differed had the story been told in a more straightforward way?
9) How did you respond to Chabon’s writing style? Do his digressions and elaborate metaphors improve the book or hinder it, in your opinion? How might another author handle this subject matter differently?
10) In what ways does “Moonglow” challenge or experiment with genre? How would you categorize this book if you had to?
My take on these questions (thank you Zachary!):1) What did you make of Chabon’s grandfather? What are his defining characteristics? Did you like him? Did you relate to him?
Flawed character that makes the best of what he sees as his failings: Too quick to anger. Failed father.
2) Do you think this novel is really as factually-based as Chabon implies? If not, how does this change your perception of the book? Why might Chabon have chosen to frame the novel this way?
As factually based as one might expect from anyone who prefaces the work with “...I have stuck to the facts except when the facts refused to conform with memory, narrative purpose or the truth as I prefer to understand it….”
Excellent statement of what most non-fiction probably does.
3) What did you make of Chabon’s grandmother and her relationship with his grandfather? How did your understanding of her shift after the revelation about her past?
It worked because for some reason both of them needed it to work.
4) What does this book have to say about marriage and romantic relationships? Did you find the novel’s view of love to be more optimistic or pessimistic? In the end, was Chabon’s grandparents’ marriage a good one?
I didn’t feel that the book was really about marriage, romantic relationships, or love. It was about a necessity for both of them.
To me, the 'message' of the book was "At what point does the (fictional) life someone is leading become so much of a strain that it becomes impossible to live?"
Obviously, it didn't work for grandmother, as she went insane trying to make her actual life agree with her 'real' life.
OTOH, it worked fine for grandfather, & mostly for the kids. It was close enough to what they were looking for as a framework for life so that it was of lesser importance. Grandfather had enough problems of his own trying to be a 'good father' etc. to overlook it.
Why do people accept the lives they are given? What value does 'the Truth' have in a life? Society is a 'construct' people build for themselves, because it makes it easier to work together as a community and integrate children into that society. If society works for the people involved, what difference does it make if it is 100% true or not. At what point would 'Truth' make a difference?
From today’s viewpoint, the grandparent’s marriage was a lousy one.
5) How did you interpret the Wernher von Braun subplot? What did von Braun symbolize for Chabon’s grandfather, and how did his role change over the course of the novel?
What does one make of one’s hero when you find that they are just flawed (and rotten) human beings, and they really aren’t the outsized characters with the dreams you have believed them to have? Catching Von Braun peeing in a planter is just another step in bringing a hero/dream down to normal human proportions. I don’t think bringing dreams down to the level of ordinary humanity is necessarily a good thing -- everyone needs something to aspire to.
6) What does this novel have to say about Jewish identity? How did the different character respond to their Jewishness? How did it define them, or not?
Not much that I found uniquely Jewish. The characters are from the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, not the Orthodox tradition found in so many of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s works about Eastern European Jewry.
7) Rockets and the moon are two of the most prominent motifs throughout this novel. What do you think these symbols represent to Chabon? To the characters?
8) Why do you think Chabon chose to plot the book non-chronologically? How does this benefit the story? How might the book have differed had the story been told in a more straightforward way?
Non-chronologically: I don’t think a person would have told stories chronologically on his deathbed. These are a series of vignettes that illustrate important things in grandfather’s life. Told in a more ‘straight-forward’ way, a lot of the book might have been wasted on unimportant events in a life that was often boringly ordinary.
Often told from the grandfather’s point of view, it could get really hard to keep track of the characters involved. Particularly when 3+ generations were involved (often great-grandparents, grandparents, & mom).
9) How did you respond to Chabon’s writing style? Do his digressions and elaborate metaphors improve the book or hinder it, in your opinion? How might another author handle this subject matter differently?
Digressions allowed Chabon to fill in details in places where they best fit. WW II was a major disjuncture for almost everyone associated with it. The von Braun episodes logically fit in where they were initially presented, and let Chabon wrap up his feelings about the character at the end of the book, because the reader already knew about that ‘hero-worshipping’ streak in grandfather.
Chabon’s writing is good, very believable. Digressions & elaborate metaphors allowed Chabon to control the pace of the book.
10) In what ways does “Moonglow” challenge or experiment with genre? How would you categorize this book if you had to?
I would categorize it as Fiction, and probably Biography or Memoir (of Grandfather). I didn’t find that it really challenged genre.
The setup for the book (having grandfather tell a series of stories from his deathbed) was a clever (successful) literary device to frame the story.
As always, I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts!