in

BIBLIOPHILES’ BOOK CLUB

PROPERTIES OF THIRST

Here are a few questions to ponder. Please be advised some will contain SPOILERS

1) Why do you think the author chose the title? How does she use the title and the epigraphs to foretell the following chapter?

2) Stryker is an important character in the novel, he appears constantly and yet he is never actually present. What is your opinion of Stryker? What do you think Cas, Rocky, and Sunny truly think of him? Was he well liked? Admired? What do you think Schiff thinks of Stryker?

3) p290 Sunny is disdainful of her father’s “ career” path. She works hard in her restaurant. Yet, does she too, live in a glass house?

4) The Ninth Property of Thirst and beyond were written after Marianne Wiggins had her massive stroke. Can you tell? Do you detect a different voice? How so?

5) Rocky refuses to pay for water to save his home. What is at the root of this decision? Would you have made the same decision?

6) Was there a particular scene in the novel that evoked an especially strong response in you? One that stayed with you ? One you wished you could forget? One you hoped you would remember? Which one and why?

7) After Rocky disappears Sunny finds Lou’s notebooks in the master bedroom. Why didn’t Rocky ever give them to Sunny ?

8) p 482 Coop tells Schiff Rocky killed himself. No one else mentions this. Why do you think Coop does this. Can we assume Snow told Coop what happened?

9) Georgina Takei. Does anyone else wonder if this was a nod to George Takei, the actor, who was held in the internment camps as a child?

10) We are left with the impression that Mr “ M “ is Waldo, one of the twins, and that Sunny adopts him and names him Emerson. Why do you think Wiggins does not fully reunite the twins with the family? P 487 Schiff meets a boy named Rafi in Japan. A boy who was “ round eye”. Later when he sees Emerson he is struck by how much he looks like Rafi. Is Rafi Ralphie? Will Schiff ever mention it? He was looking for Suzy and these twins, would he not put two and two together? Should Wiggins have extended the book and found a way to reunite the family?

11). There are three sets of twins in the story. By its end all are separated. Cas loses her brother, Rocky, and his whereabouts are unknown. Sunny loses her brother and he too, has disappeared. Waldo and Ralph have vanished. Is this a deeper metaphor? If so what might Wiggins’s be trying to tell us?

12) We know so much about what Cas looks like because they reference her looks by comparing her to her brother - and often not flatteringly. Yet, we don’t seem to get as much detail about what Stryker looks like, instead the author builds Stryker by his passed deeds and the stories his family tells. Why do you think Wiggins does this?

13) p 231 Sunny muses how Cas wasn’t unhappy in her life, “ but that there might be many happinesses in a single life…” Is this true and fair to Cas? Or is this the easiest way for Sunny? Why once Sunny and Stryker were older didn’t Cas move on with her life?

14) p244 Can you relate to Schiff’s feeling that he can never exceed or match what his parents did?

15) Schiff has a unique perspective on the treatment of Japanese internees. What experiences provide him this more sympathetic viewpoint?

16) P 260 Why does Schiff object to the Oath of Allegiance the government requires each internet to sign?

17) p309 Rocky muses that “ Death will end up our Best Teacher”. What do you think he means and do you agree? What has Rocky learned?

18) Race, religion and discrimination are present throughout the novel. Discuss how they are used to propel the story forward and how many characters experience it.

19) What do you think happened to Suzy?

20) p 490 There is a quote about the past - “ The past is carried to us on simple things…” Do you agree? What do you have that carries the past back to you?