Discussion Questions
1. Reread the three epigraphs at the beginning of the novel and discuss how these three quotations provide the thematic "skeleton" for the novel. In particular, look at the first epigraph: "My memory keeps getting in the way of your history." What are some of the ways that memory and history intertwine in the lives of Badami's characters?
2. In an interview with Quill & Quire in September 2006, Badami explores the origins of Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? In the late 1990s, after she and her family had moved to Vancouver, Badami was preoccupied with certain themes. She explains that she "began wondering what you would do if you discovered that someone you loved—son, father, lover, husband—was involved in something terrible. Would I live with the knowledge, keep quiet about it, or would I feel morally obligated to inform the authorities? And then how would I deal with the consequences of losing that love?" Explore the many and various ways that Badami chooses to unravel these preoccupations in the novel.
3. When Leela's grandmother tells her the story of Trishanku, the king condemned to hang upside down between two worlds, Leela initially sees her own fate as similarly unfortunate. However, Venku, the cook, offers her another interpretation of the story, explaining that it is perhaps fortunate to have access to two worlds. Discuss how the various characters in the novel are caught between worlds and whether this in-between state is a boon or a curse?
4. "Forgetfulness was good, said Bibi-ji. A bad memory was necessary for a person wishing to settle in, to become one of the crowd, to become an invisible minority." (p. 136-7) Later in the novel we read this: "In the blank slate of a foreign country, Pa-ji came to understand, you could scribble the truth any way you wanted" (p. 203). In the novel, what are some of the repercussions of forgetfulness or of denying truth? Does a person have to dull their memory and forget their past in order to assimilate into a new culture or country? Do any of the characters in the novel do this successfully?
5. We learn of the nightbird of the novel's title though Nimmo: "Above all this noise a bird sang deliriously, as if determined to drown it out. Perhaps it was the fabled nightbird, so sweet and unearthly was its singing. Nimmo had a vague memory of her mother telling her stories about this bird, whose song was a portent of ill luck. Or was it death?" (p. 144). Who is the question in the title of the novel directed at? Why do you think the author chose to phrase the title as a question? What are some of the many ways in which signs and portents shape the novel?
6. Bibi-ji is selfish and impulsive, yet overall she remains a likeable character. How does the author manage to render the character likeable despite some of her less- than-desirable traits?
7. Where do you think the novel turns from one filled with humour and hope to one of great tragedy? Discuss the many ways that Anita Rau Badami foreshadows the harrowing incidents that happen in the last quarter of the novel.
8. What are some of the techniques that Anita Rau Badami uses to make Chapter 24 such a powerful one? What is the shift in perspective that is dramatically different from the other chapters? Who are the "they" of the chapter title?
9. Look closely at the character of Jasbeer and how he evolves throughout the novel. What are the seeds of his extremism? Why does displacement cause contempt and violence in some and hope and possibility in others? What are we to make of Jasbeer by the end of the novel?
10. Of the three main female characters—Bibi-ji, Leela and Nimmo—do you think we are meant to take one perspective as the author's?
11. Do you find the final scene of the novel offers any hope or redemption after the extreme violence and disintegration that precedes it?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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