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 Break No Bones:
1. What does Temperance find with regards to the numerous skeletons unearthed at the beginning of the story...and what do the findings begin to suggest? How does each new discovery add to the mystery?
2. In what way does it seem as if the deaths Tempe is concerned with are connected with her husband's case?
3. Early on, did your suspicions tend toward the clinic or the televangelist...one or the other, both, or neither? At what point does Tempe begin to unravel the truth?
4. What is the reason Tempe gives for pursuing a career in forensics? At one point she says, "death in anonymity is the ultimate insult to human dignity." Do you agree?
5. In what way do the demands of her career and travel affect Temperance's personal life? Is it a good trade-off? What does Tempe think...what do you think?
6. Do you like Temperance Brennan as a character? What about her rapid-fire one-liners—do you find them funny and witty? Or do you find Tempe's humor tiresome or overworked?
7. Temperance finds herself in a rather unusual situation—an ex-husband and current lover both in town. In what way does Ryan act as a sort of foil for Pete? And then...hmmmm... let's see...Ryan...Pete...Ryan...Pete...? Which would you go for?
8. Were you engaged by this novel? Did you find it fresh and, surprising...or obvious and formulaic? How about the ending— is it satisfying?
9. Have you read other Temperance Brennan mysteries...or have you watched Bones, the TV series based on the books? How do you compare this book to either the show or other books in the series?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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