61 pages • 2 hours read
By Any Other Name
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Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of gender discrimination.
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. Describe your experience navigating between the two timelines and varying narrative voices.
2. Discuss how your knowledge of Shakespeare informed your reading experience. Were you surprised by the realistic elements of Shakespeare’s life woven into the narrative?
3. Picoult is known for her books’ ability to open complex conversations. What element of the book resonated with you the most after reading it?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. Reflect on the novel’s examination of the complexities of relationships and understanding others. Has your perspective on someone close to you ever shifted dramatically? How did this impact your relationship?
2. To what extent do you think that societal expectations, names, and titles influence people’s perceptions of one another? How does one overcome the pressure of labels?
3. Examine the novel’s exploration of gaining a voice through art. How do you express yourself creatively, and how does your endeavor give voice to emotions you may struggle to vocalize?
4. Which character did you find most relatable, and why?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.
1. Consider how the novel addresses gender roles. How do the female characters subvert traditional power structures and gain autonomy? What relevance does this have for contemporary societies?
2. Discuss the novel’s exploration of allyship and how members of marginalized groups can support and advocate for one another.
3. Explore the idea of art suppression in both timelines. Where do you see a similar impulse toward censorship playing out today?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.
1. Analyze the novel’s dual timeline structure. How does the author simultaneously develop Emilia and Melina’s stories individually while linking them through time and space?
2. Discuss the novel’s exploration of the tension between truth and perception. How do the characters wrestle with the boundaries between honesty and self-protection?
3. Explore the allusions to Shakespeare’s work throughout the novel, including the title, which comes from a line in Romeo and Juliet. How does the storyline parallel elements of many of Shakespeare’s works?
4. If you’ve read it, discuss the novel’s parallels to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
5. What does Mary Sidney’s invisible ink symbolize?
Creative Engagement
Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.
1. If the book were adapted for the screen, who should play the roles of Melina and Emilia?
2. View the movie Shakespeare in Love, which also examines the role of women during the Elizabethan era and takes liberties with the mythos surrounding William Shakespeare and his authorship. How does this movie compare to Picoult’s novel?
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