Literally Leander discussion

Our book for March 2021 was Half Life by Lillian Clark. Be aware of spoilers within this thread!

This month, our discussion prompts were written by a staff member. Don't feel pressured to use them if you do not want to! We look forward to seeing anything you have to say about this novel!

1. If you had the opportunity to clone yourself, would you? What do you see as possible benefits, and what do you see as drawbacks?

2. Lucille states about cloning: “…the United Nations called for a nonbinding ban on human cloning, that seventy countries forbid it, but that no law prohibits it in Colorado. And that there’s an ever-present moral, ethical, secular, and religious debate about it.” Discuss this comment—is it right or wrong to clone human beings?

3. Describe Lucille as a narrator. What did you think of her? Did your perception of her change when looking at her through Lucy’s lens?

4. Talk about the shift in Lucille and Lucy’s relationship. How do you think they see each other by the end of the novel?

5. Did you like the ending of Half Life? Is there anything that you would have done differently, if you were the author?

I'm ahead of the curve this month, so I'm going to go ahead and write out my thoughts before they become faded.

Unfortunately Half Life was another miss for me. I thought that the book's pacing was off, with all of the exciting bits happening in the last 50 pages that requires one to slog through hundreds of previous pages to enjoy. I also disliked Lucille and Lucy, and didn't much care for their narrations or their love stories.

1. If you had the opportunity to clone yourself, would you? What do you see as possible benefits, and what do you see as drawbacks?
While part of me thinks it would be cool because science, most of me says heck no. I'm a little too grandiose in my opinions of myself and would be mad as a wet hen if my clone was better than me. (That sounds self-centered, doesn't it?)

2. Lucille states about cloning: “…the United Nations called for a nonbinding ban on human cloning, that seventy countries forbid it, but that no law prohibits it in Colorado. And that there’s an ever-present moral, ethical, secular, and religious debate about it.” Discuss this comment—is it right or wrong to clone human beings?
I hestitate to assign words like "right" or "wrong" because it is clearly a moral dilemma. Some people would likely have very strong feelings about this, but personally I think it opens up a whole lot of thought and philosophy... which, if you ask me, is a school that has no answers, only questions. One thing Lucy struggles with in the novel is if she's really human. Is it like Descartes; "I think, therefore I am?"

We can't answer questions about what makes us human with any sense of finality. How could we possibly include clones in that conversation?

3. Describe Lucille as a narrator. What did you think of her? Did your perception of her change when looking at her through Lucy’s lens?
At first, I felt a bit sorry for Lucille. It seemed like she was pressured to be perfect by mostly internal means, but she felt spread thin and filled with anxiety over her future. But when you look at her through Lucy's eyes, you see someone who is hungry for attention and acknowledgement, you see someone who is selfish and naive, you see a multifaceted character that, unfortunately, I didn't much like.

I will acknowledge that the characters are not one-dimensional. We see many versions of Lucille, as some of the story is given to us through her lens, while others are shown through the eyes of another. Lucille is indeed a conundrum of a character. I just thought that her bad traits stood out more than her good ones.