November Road (Berney) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for NOVEMBER ROAD ... then take off on your own:

1. How would you describe Frank Guidry at the beginning of November Road? Were you confused as to whether he was the hero or the villain of the story? How do your views of Guidry change over the course of the novel?

2. What was Guidry's relationship with Carlos Marcello? Before reading November Road, were you at all aware of the real-life Marcello—his hatred for and stated intent to kill President John F. Kennedy?

3. After the Kennedy assassination, how did Guidry's world shift? Why is Paul Barone after him?

4. Talk about Charlotte Roy. What do you think of her decision to pack up her daughters (plus dog) and leave her husband? Other than putting distance between herself and Dooley, what else does Charlotte want? What is she looking for? What are her ambitions for herself and her daughters>

5. Talk about the ways in which both Guidry and Charlotte change during the course of the novel? What attracts each of them to the other?

6. What is the symbolic meaning of the journey, the road?

7. Why is the novel titled "November Road"? Consider the month of November—not only is it the month of the JFK assassination in the novel, but it traditionally signals the end of fall and beginning of winter. Considering the national culture, how might November be seen as a sort of watershed in the national culture: an end to something and the beginning of something else?

8. How does JFK's assassination affect events and people Frank and Charlotte meet along the way?

9. If you are old enough to have lived through the JFK assassination, talk about what you recall of that weekend. If you are too young, what have you been told about it?

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

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