Book Club - Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me- 7pm Munich, 10am Pacific

In the Memoir Mentors Book Club, we read memoirs with a memoirist's eye, looking for things that we could use in our writing or things we want to avoid.

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me - Adrienne Brodeur

On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me.

Adrienne (Rennie) instantly became her mother’s confidant, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband’s closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne’s life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her life—and her mother—on her own terms.

Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply because they have access to them, and the lies we tell in order to justify the choices we make. It’s a remarkable story of resilience, a reminder that we need not be the parents our parents were to us.

Questions we'll discuss:

• What do we learn about the author from how she tells her tale—both what she chooses to tell, and the tone of voice in which she tells it? Is this a story about her mother’s misbehavior, or about something else?
• Revisit the Mary Oliver poem, “The Uses of Sorrow,” that serves as an epigraph to the book. Do you see the darknesses in your own life as gifts, or would you wish some of them away? Is growth possible without suffering?
• What are your thoughts about including poetry in your memoir? Discuss rules for using others' poems in your work.
• Malabar makes life more interesting for everyone, including us as readers. Do you feel a little bewitched by her charms? Would she be as compelling without her flaws? Discuss the desire to paint yourself and others in a positive or negative light and getting the balance right.
• Do you feel that the author is betraying her mother in telling this story? How do you plan to handle this in your own story?
• How does Malabar upend traditional roles for women, and how does she subscribe to them? How has her mother Vivian’s influence shaped her sense of identity, as well as her relationships with other women?
• Compare Ben’s conduct during the affair to Malabar’s. Whom do you feel more sympathy for? When you look at all the adult characters in the book, is there a villain in this story?
• Rennie has two experiences where time collapses and the layers of her past rush in: just before her wedding and after she gives birth to her daughter (pp. 176, 223). What do these moments do for her? Have you had a similar experience that has granted you a profound glimpse of your life? Are these flashbacks effective?
• The author shows us Cape Cod as a place of beauty, history, and bounty. In what ways does the setting contribute to the meaning of the story? Do you plan to include the setting prominently in your story?
• Rennie actively reads to help her clarify and articulate her experience. Margot tells her, “You have no idea how much you can learn about yourself by plunging into someone else’s life (138).” What light does this story shed on your own experience as a parent or a child? Have books helped you make sense of your own life?
• Is the plot chronological? Or does it veer back and forth between past and present?
• Is there a turning point in this book? If so, where would you place it and why?
• Do any characters change or grow by the end of the story? Do they come to view the world and their relationship to it differently?
• Share your favorite quote(s) and why you felt it was noteworthy.
• Would you be compelled to keep reading if this were not a book club assignment?
• Were there any surprises? Were they effective?
• Was the point of view and character voice consistent?
• What were the major strengths and weaknesses of the book?
• Do you find the narrator(s) and other characters likable? Believable?
  Of all the people described in the book, who did you most relate to or empathize with, and why?
• Were there any inconsistencies that bothered you?
• How honest do you think the author was being?
• What gaps do you wish the author had filled in? Were there points where you thought he shared too much?
• Is the ending a surprise or predictable? Does the end unfold naturally? Or is it forced, heavy-handed, or manipulative? Is the ending satisfying, or would you prefer a different ending?
• Is there anything about this book that you want to emulate in your own writing?
• Is there anything that you want to avoid in your own writing?

Sign up to the Memoir Mentors Mailing List here:
http://eepurl.com/g29101

Book club Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/GDLHxvZ8dYXALn8Dy3MbG4