Mudbound (33 page)
Authors: Hillary Jordan
Tags: #Fiction, #Historical, #Social Science, #Discrimination & Race Relations
4. The story is narrated by two farmers, two wives and mothers, and two soldiers. Compare and contrast the ways in which these parallel characters, black and white, view and experience the world.
5. What is the significance of the title? In what ways are each of the characters bound—by the land, by circumstance, by tradition, by the law, by their own limitations? How much of this binding is inescapable and how much is self-imposed? Which characters are most successful in freeing themselves from what binds them?
6. All the characters are products of their time and place, and instances of racism in the book run from Pappy’s outright bigotry to Laura’s more subtle prejudice. Would Laura have thought of herself as racist, and if not, why not? How do the racial views of Laura, Jamie, Henry, and Pappy affect your sympathy for them?
7. The novel deals with many thorny issues: racism, sexual politics, infidelity, war. The characters weigh in on these issues, but what about the author? Does she have a discernable perspective, and if so, how does she convey it?
8. We know very early in the book that something terrible is going to befall Ronsel. How does this sense of inevitability affect the story? Jamie makes Ronsel responsible for his own
fate, saying, “Maybe that’s cowardly of me, making Ronsel’s the trigger finger.” Is it just cowardice, or is there some truth to what Jamie says? Where would you place the turning point for Ronsel? Who else is complicit in what happens to him, and why?
9. In reflecting on some of the more difficult moral choices made by the characters—Laura’s decision to sleep with Jamie, Ronsel’s decision to abandon Resl and return to America, Jamie’s choice during the lynching scene, Florence’s and Jamie’s separate decisions to murder Pappy—what would you have done in those same situations? Is it even possible to know? Are there some moral positions that are absolute, or should we take into account things like time and place when making Judgments?
10. Why do you think the author chose to have Ronsel address you, the reader, directly at the end of the book? Do you believe he overcomes the formidable obstacles facing him and finds “something like happiness”? If so, why doesn’t the author just say so explicitly? Would a less ambiguous ending have been more or less satisfying?
Hillary Jordan grew up in Texas and Oklahoma. She received her BA in English and political science from Wellesley College and spent fifteen years working as an advertising copywriter before starting to write fiction. She got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. Her first novel,
Mudbound
, won the 2006
Bellwether Prize for Fiction
, awarded biennially to a debut novel that addresses issues of social justice, and was the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Fiction Book of the Year for 2008. Jordan’s short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, including
StoryQuarterly
and the
Carolina Quarterly.
She lives in Tivoli, New York.
Other Algonquin Readers Round Table Novels
Water for Elephants
, a novel by Sara Gruen
As a young man, Jacob Jankowski is tossed by fate onto a rickety train, home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Amid a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, Jacob becomes involved with Marlena, the beautiful young equestrian star; her husband, a charismatic but twisted animal trainer; and Rosie, an untrainable elephant who is the great gray hope for this third-rate show. Now in his nineties, Jacob at long last reveals the story of their unlikely yet powerful bonds, ones that nearly shatter them all.
“[An] arresting new novel . . . With a showman’s expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale.” —
The New York Times Book Review
“Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine.”
—Parade
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-560-5
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England
, a novel by Brock Clarke
The past catches up to Sam Pulsifer, the hapless hero of this incendiary novel, when after spending ten years in prison for accidentally burning down Emily Dickinson’s house, the homes of other famous New England writers go up in smoke. To prove his innocence, he sets out to uncover the identity of this literary-minded arsonist.
“Funny, profound . . . A seductive book with a payoff on every page.” —
People
“Wildly, unpredicatably funny . . . As cheerfully oddball as its title.”
—
The New York Times
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-614-5
Saving the World
, a novel by Julia Alvarez
While Alma Huebner is researching a new novel, she discovers the true story of Isabel Sendales y Gómez, who embarked on a courageous sea voyage to rescue the New World from smallpox. The author of
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
and
In the Time of the Butterflies
, Alvarez captures the worlds of two women living two centuries apart but with surprisingly parallel fates.
“Fresh and unusual, and thought-provokingly sensitive.”
—The Boston Globe
“Engrossing, expertly paced.” —
People
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-558-2
Breakfast with Buddha
, a novel by Roland Merullo
When his sister tricks him into taking her guru, a crimson-robed monk, on a trip to their childhood home, otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he’d planned. But along the way, otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world—and more important, his life—through someone else’s eyes.
“Enlightenment meets
On the Road
in this witty, insightful novel.”
—The Boston Sunday Globe
“A laugh-out-loud novel that’s both comical and wise . . . balancing irreverence with insight.” —
The Louisville Courier-Journal
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
13: 978-1-56512-616-9
The Ghost at the Table
, a novel by Suzanne Berne
When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include her sister, Cynthia. But tension mounts between them as each struggles with a different version of the mysterious circumstances surrounding their mother’s death twenty-five years earlier.
“Wholly engaging, the perfect spark for launching a rich conversation around your own table.” —
The Washington Post Book World
“A crash course in sibling rivalry.” —
O: The Oprah Magazine
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-579-7
Coal Black Horse
, a novel by Robert olmstead
When Robey Childs’s mother has a premonition about her husband, who is away fighting in the Civil War, she sends her only son to find him and bring him home. At fourteen, Robey thinks he’s off on a great adventure. But it takes the gift of a powerful and noble coal black horse to show him how to undertake the most important journey of his life.
“A remarkable creation.” —
Chicago Tribune
“Exciting . . . A grueling adventure.” —
The New York Times Book Review
AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN
-13: 978-1-56512-601-5
Table of Contents
