Do Not Become Alarmed (Meloy) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Do Not Become Alarmed …then take off on your own:

1. What do you think of the characters at the book's onset? Consider all four (or six) of the adults, as well as the children. Do you prefer some over others? Do any of the characters change over the course of the novel? Do your opinions of them change?

2. Talk about the ways in which three of the characters — the autistic, the actor, and the diabetic — require specialized attention and love from Liv and Nora. How do their needs affect the dynamics of the group as a whole? How do they affect the two women?

3. In what ways does the author Maile Meloy (pronounced MY-lee) first begin to ratchet up the sense of peril before the actual disappearance of the children?

4. How does each adult respond/react to the missing children? Are their reactions appropriate? Are they believable (in terms of how actual human beings, rather than fictional characters would react)? What fault lines are exposed in the adults' relationships by the kidnapping?

5. Liv thinks "The karmic bus had mowed her down." What does she mean? In what way does she feel she is being punished for the disaster? What about the other two women?

6. The book deals in serious topics, especially having to do with rich Americans who use the poverty-ridden Latin America as a playground. Does this issue resonate with you? Or do you consider that American tourists offer poorer cultures an economic opportunity?

7. Can/should the children's disappearance be laid at the feet of any of the women? Does their lack of caution border on neglect or carelessness? Or could something like this happen without anyone being "to blame"?

8. A couple of references (hints) are made that the children are too soft and that their parents have not prepared them adequately for the world. Is that criticism or observation fair or not—are these children coddled? Are American children in general overprotected? Or has, say, the media made them smarter or savvier than you were as a child?

9. Have you ever been on a cruise before? Does the author do a good job of portraying the sense of pleasure in which the travelers are enveloped? Has reading Do Not Become Alarmed made you think twice about taking another cruise...or ever taking a first one?

10. What do you make of the book's title? What is its significance?

11. The novel allows different characters to express their point of view. Did you find the shifting perspectives confusing, enriching, distracting …or something else?

12. What was your experience reading the novel? Were you on the seat of your pants? What about the ending—do you find it satisfying? 

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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