For those of you that haven't or couldn't attend book club lately, we'll be publishing the previous months' discussion questions here. I hope eventually to post discussion questions for all of the books we've covered since I took over a couple of years ago and beyond, all the way to the beginning over a decade and a half ago. It will take a while. Until then, we will be posting discussion questions on a weekly basis. Here are the questions from a 2007 title, The House on Beartown Road. We hope these questions spark discussions of your own.
The House on Beartown Road
(later published as The Family on Beartown Road)
by Elizabeth Cohen
Summary:
In this beautiful book, Elizabeth Cohen gives us a true and moving portrait of the love and courage of a family. Elizabeth, a member of the "sandwich generation" -- people caught in the middle, simultaneously caring for their children and for their aging parents -- is the mother of Ava and the daughter of Daddy, and responsible for both.
Hers is the story of a woman's struggle to keep her family whole, to raise her child in a house of laughter and love, and to keep her father from hiding the house keys in his slippers. In this story full of everyday triumphs, first steps, and elderly confusion, Ava, a baby, finds each new picture, each new word, each new song, something to learn greedily, joyfully. Daddy is a man in his twilight years for whom time moves slowly and lessons are not learned but quietly, frustratingly forgotten. Elizabeth, a suddenly single mother with a career and a mortgage and a hamper of laundry, finds her world spiraling out of control yet full of beauty. Faced with mounting disasters, she chooses to confront life head-on. Written in wonderful prose and imbued with an unquenchable spirit, The House on Beartown Road takes us on a journey through the remarkable landscape that is family. -- Book jacket.
Discussion Questions
What experiences with, or knowledge about Alzheimer’s Disease did you have before reading this book?
Cohen writes about this year in the framework of how we learn and how we forget. She describes the parallel between her father’s forgetting and her daughter’s learning. How did what was happening to her father give Cohen insight into what was happening to her daughter, and vice versa?
The author talks about survival of the species being due in part to coping skills. What coping skills did the author utilize?
Cohen’s neighbors, friends and family all had roles to play during the tough year, especially through the rough winter months. How did they help or hinder, and do you think the experience would have been different if Cohen live in another community or in an urban area? Shane? Mother/Sister? Neighbors? Medical Professional? Friends? Coworkers?
What was your reaction to the “Memory Project”?
If you had been in this situation, what if anything would you have done differently?
A fictional treatment of Alzheimer’s is in the novel, “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks. It has also been made into a movie? Have any of you read it? Are there any comparisons you would make?
The New York Times Book Review wrote that “Instead of molding all this into 270 pages of scathing retribution or bitter self-pity, Cohen has written a frank, funny and un-exploitative memoir.” Do you agree?
What, if any advice can be gleaned from this book about caring for others? Do you think that Cohen wrote it in order to offer advice? If not, what was her motivation?
What have you learned from the story? What do you think Elizabeth Cohen learned?
What did the author have "going for" her in the situation as it developed?
What is your reaction to the "Memory Project"?
How does the movie "The Notebook" (now showing in town) compare to this story?
What does the father's computer illiteracy, and his pride in that, signify to you?
What have you learned from this story? What do you think Elizabeth Cohen learned?
Questions as used in the original discussion
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