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 Lazarus Child
1. Young Ben feels responsible for his sister's accident. How is it possible—is it possible—to offer comfort in light of a tragic event of this magnitude? How well do you feel his parents help Frankie cope with the trauma?
2. This story pits traditional medicine against experimental methods. What are the benefits of one system versus the other? Would you have entrusted a loved one with someone like Dr. Chase? How fairly do you think Mawson presents the controversy and the characters who stand on either side of the issues?
3. Discuss Dr. Chase's motives, or particular interest, in helping the Heywood children. Do her treatment methods raise ethical or moral issues?
4. Do you believe that a world beyond consciousness exists? Might it be possible for coma patients to communicate with others on a "joint plane of awareness"? Or do you see this story as a fable...say, about a universe of unseen possibilities—or about the potential for deeper levels of connection between human beings?
5. Did the sexually explicit scenes make you uncomfortable? Are they included for sensational effect, or did you find them integral to the plot? Why do you think they are part of the story?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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