If you have read Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2001), Five similarly shows how a single moment can reshape multiple lives. Compare how McEwan and Bannister structure their novels around a pivotal event by analyzing their use of narrative tools like shifting perspective, delayed revelation, and/or nonlinear chronology.

Compare Liam and Danny as foils. How do their different understandings of responsibility shape their relationship throughout the novel?

Analyze the motif of performance in the novel. Choose three specific characters and discuss how they perform for the public. What purpose do these identities serve? Identify and discuss one specific theme that is conveyed through this motif.

What is one theme in the text related to responsibility? Consider the characters of Liam, Emma, Danny, and Medical Student in your response. In addition to characterization, choose another literary element and analyze how it supports this theme.

In Five, love often creates conflict rather than resolving it. Analyze how Bannister develops this paradox through two specific relationships in the text.

Does Five have an antagonist? To what extent does the novel argue that tragedy is driven by circumstance or larger forces rather than by one individual character? Identify the force you believe functions as the novel’s antagonist and support your answer by discussing specific scenes in the text.

If you have read Celeste Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere (2017), compare and contrast the experiences of Mia and Emma as mothers. Specifically, analyze how the theme of The Social Vilification of Mothers applies to both characters.

What role does dramatic irony, where the reader knows something that the characters do not, play in Five? Choose three specific instances of dramatic irony and analyze how they create humor, tension, and/or suspense.