Fool (Moore)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Fool:

1. Christopher Moore has said that as the King's fool (or court jester) Pocket is in a position to speak "truth to power." What does he mean by that comment?

2. What does Moore gain by telling the story through the perspective of Pocket, the fool?

3. Why does Cordelia refuse to yield to Lear's demand that his daughters swear their love and devotion to him? (It's a point that has puzzled some critics of Shakespeare for eons.)

4. If familiar with Shakespeare's King Lear, can you identify some of the parallels with, and departures from, the original? Can you identify insertions from other Shakespeare plays?

5. Is Moore successful at turning Lear, one of Shakespeare's most tragic and grisly plays, into a comedy. Is Fool funny?

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

top of page (summary)