My Soul to Keep (Due)

Discussion Questions
1. Ultimately, in your view, what is this novel really about?

2. Would immortality be a blessing or a curse?

3. What was Jessica’s biggest mistake in the course of this novel?

4. What was David’s biggest mistake in the course of this novel?

5. How are real-life relationships mirrored in the relationship between Jessica and David? How often do we ignore what we don’t want to see?

6. Is David capable of true love as we know it?

7. What role, if any, does Jessica’s Christian faith play in this novel?

8. At one point, the ghost of Jessica’s father tells her, “There are no good monsters.” Is this true? Is David a monster?

9. Are there any evil characters in this novel? In what ways does this novel make you question your concepts of “good” and “evil”?

10. Discuss the use of Christ’s blood in the mythology of the immortal Life Brothers. Should this notion trouble Christians? Why/why not?

11. How would you be living your life differently if you were an immortal?

12. What do you think of the separatist philosophy of the Life Colony? Is the Living Blood being wasted?

13. Who is most responsible for the tragic death in the Louisiana motel room?

14. Should Jessica have given Kira the injection of blood? Why/why not? Why didn’t she?

15. If you were Jessica, how would you have behaved when David arrived in South Africa at the end of the book? What, if anything, should she have done differently?

16. In what ways, if any, had Jessica changed by the end of this book?

17. In what ways, if any, had David changed by the end of this book?
(Questions from www.tananarivedue.com.)

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