Mirror Thief (Seay) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
The publishers have yet to issue discussion questions, so use our LitLovers talking points to help kick off a discussion for The Mirror Thief...then take off on your own:

1. The Mirror Thief contains three separate stories in three distinct time periods. Which of the stories most engaged you—and which characters? Which least engaged you?

2. Discuss how the three plot strands come together at the end. Does the author succeed in weaving the them seamlessly? Does he tie all the knots or leave some loose ends, questions that remain unanswered? Can you explain how the three sections finally link up?

3. How do mirrors function in this complicated novel, both as a metaphor and as a structuring device? An easy one, for instance—in a book with "mirror" in the title, one of the main characters is named Glass.

4. Stanley sees Adrian Welles's book of poetry as perhaps somewhat "goofy" with a hint of "Dungeons & Dragons about it." Stanley, on the other hand, is obsessed with it; for him it is a "map that will take him [to another world], a password that will unfasten the locks. How do each man's views reflect the essence of who he is? What do you think of the book?

5. Do you find the author's philosophizing a bit heavy? Does it bog the book down? Or do his ideas enhance the book for you and lend it intellectual heft?

6. Why is Bingo a fascist game?

7. One of the book's characters makes this observation about books and authors:

[B]ooks always know more than their authors do. They are always wiser. This is strange to say, but it's true. Once they are in the world, they develop their own peculiar ideas.

What might he mean by that remark? And does it pertain to The Mirror Thief—both versions: the book within the book, as well as the book in you hands.

8. Another character remarks:

It is a rare rhetorical gift that permits a man to speak knowledgeably about a topic and still deliver his audience into a state of enriched confusion. At times I think this skill chiefly defines the profession of magus.

Is the Martin Seay, the author, taking a sly poke at his own book? Does The Mirror Thief leave you in a "state of enriched confusion"?

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)

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