How to Read a Book

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death by suicide and death.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Wood structures the novel through three alternating perspectives (Violet, Frank, and Harriet). How did this narrative approach affect your understanding of each character’s journey? Which perspective offered you the most insight into the novel’s central themes of forgiveness and healing?

2. Monica Wood explores the healing power of books in this novel, similar to how she examines the healing power of memory in her memoir When We Were the Kennedys. How effective did you find Wood’s portrayal of how literature can provide comfort and transformation during difficult times?

3. The novel begins and ends with an older Violet reflecting on her life, creating a frame narrative. How did knowing that Violet ultimately lived a full life affect how you engaged with her struggles throughout the story? Did this structure enhance or diminish the emotional impact of the novel?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Frank offers Violet forgiveness even though she was responsible for his wife’s death. Reflect on a time when you’ve witnessed or experienced unexpected forgiveness. How did that experience change your perspective on human relationships?

2. The women in Book Club find that classic novels often resonate more deeply with them than contemporary fiction. What books have served as emotional touchstones in your life during difficult periods? Why do you think certain literature speaks to us more powerfully during specific life stages?

3. Harriet creates discussion questions that encourage the women to examine their lives through the lens of literature. Which book from your own reading history has prompted the most meaningful self-reflection, and what did you learn about yourself through that reading experience?

4. Violet finds purpose and healing through her work with the parrots, discovering that meaningful work can be transformative. How has your relationship with work shaped your identity and sense of purpose?

5. Throughout the novel, Violet’s relationship with religious music evolves—she teaches hymns to the parrots even as she questions her faith. How have cultural or spiritual traditions from your past remained meaningful to you even as your relationship with them has changed?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Violet struggles to find employment and rebuild her life after prison, highlighting the challenges formerly incarcerated individuals face. How does the novel’s portrayal of reintegration compare with your understanding of the criminal justice system? What factors most helped or hindered Violet’s transition back to society?

2. Dr. Pepperberg’s research with African grey parrots highlights questions about communication across species boundaries. How does Wood use this research to explore broader themes about understanding those who are different from ourselves? What parallels do you see between the human-parrot relationships and human-human relationships in the novel?

3. When Violet visits her mother’s grave, her family and community reject her despite her having served her sentence. How does the novel critique or complicate commonly held notions about justice, punishment, and redemption? What responsibility do communities have toward those who have committed crimes?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The title How to Read a Book operates on multiple levels throughout the novel. Beyond the literal Book Club, how does Wood explore different ways of “reading”—reading situations, reading people, reading one’s own life? How does this tie into Violet’s journey?

2. Wood incorporates several literary allusions throughout the novel, from Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology to J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey to Maya Angelou’s poetry. Analyze how these works mirror or illuminate the characters’ experiences. Which literary reference did you find most effective?

3. Harriet tells Violet, “We are a continuum of human experience, neither the worst nor the best thing we have ever done” (152). How does this statement function as a central thesis for the novel? In what ways do the three main characters embody this philosophy?

4. The field visible from the prison represents the contrast between freedom and confinement. Analyze how Wood uses physical spaces—the prison, the lab, the bookstore, Harriet’s home—to reflect characters’ emotional states and the novel’s themes.

5. The novel ends with Violet imagining her own epitaph: “My name is Violet Powell. I took a life. I lived and died. Meanwhile, I was loved” (273). How does this epitaph encapsulate the novel’s central themes? What significance does the word “meanwhile” carry throughout the story?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were to select a book for Harriet’s Prison Book Club, what would you choose and why? What three discussion questions would you prepare to help the women connect the book to their own experiences?

2. Imagine Ollie the parrot could record his observations of the humans around him. Write a brief entry from his “field notes” about Violet, Frank, or Harriet, focusing on what he understands about human behavior that the humans themselves might miss.

3. The novel offers glimpses of how Violet’s relationship with Frank and Harriet evolves into a found family. Create a scene that might have occurred during a holiday celebration between these three characters in the years following the main events of the novel.

Need more inspiration for your next meeting? Browse all of our Book Club Resources