PAPER/PLATES Book Club discussion

Have you read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena? Join fellow readers to discuss this beautiful, funny and heartbreaking novel. Feel free to post at any time — there's no end date for this conversation!

Start with the questions below, or add your own!

See our recommended menu for your book club meeting here: http://www.paperplatesblog.com/blog/b...

QUESTION 1: How do shifts in time and perspective add to or take away from the plot?

QUESTION 2: Which character was the most tragic?

QUESTION 3: What role did age play in this novel? We saw characters in all stages of life — what made them alike or different?

QUESTION 4: How much did you know about the sociopolitical context of Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s prior to reading this book? How did that affect your understanding of it?

QUESTION 5: What role did food play in this novel? Was it a blessing or a curse?

QUESTION 6: Many of the novel's leading men are emasculated in various ways — physically, professionally. What did you make of that?

QUESTION 7: What did Havaa's blue suitcase represent?

QUESTION 8: How did this novel define family? How does that compare to how you define family?