General's Daughter (DeMille)

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 The General's Daughter:

1. Talk about the victim, Capt. Ann Campbell. What kind of character is she? How has she been shaped by the past?

2. This entry is found in Ann Campbell's journal:

Why do some men think they have to be knights in shining armor? I am my own knight, I am my own dragon, and I live in my own castle.

What does the passage reveal about Campbell—her state of mind, her belief in herself, and her attitude toward men?

3. Are you sympathetic...or disturbed by Ann Campbell? Or both?

4. What about the rape and cover-up at West Point—and especially Joe Campbell's role in it? Should he have been more protective of his daughter? Or did his professional duties take precedence? Do you understand the rationale for the cover-up...or is it a male-centric view, one that dismisses female rights to justice?

5. Talk about Cynthia Sunhill and her role in book. Why does DeMille provide a female sidekick in this investigation?

6. How would you describe Sunhill and Brenner's current relationship? Were you rooting for the romance between the two to be rekindled...or didn't you care? Sunhill asks Brenner, "why didn't you fight for me? Wasn't I worth it?" Why didn't Brenner fight for her?

7. What kind of character is Paul Brenner? What drives him? Do you enjoy his wisecracks...or does his tough-guy routine wear thin?

8. In what ways does this case challenge the standard procedures of detective work? What is meant by the "spirit world that coexists with the world of empirical observation" that Brenner and Sunhill must now enter to solve this mystery?

9. In many ways, the novel is a commentary on the difference between the old and new amy. How does DeMille draw the distinctions between the two?

10. Does this novel deliver in terms of suspense and mystery? Are the twists and turns surprising? Did you find yourself quickly turning pages...or did it drag for you?

11. The killer all but introduces himself early on. Did you figure it out? Or were you surprised by the ending? Does the perpetrator's motivation seem credible? Were all loose threads tied up...or left unanswered?

12. Have you seen the 1999 film with John Travolta and Madeleine Stow? If so, how does it compare with the book?

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

top of page (summary)