46 pages • 1-hour read
Recursion
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Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of illness.
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. How did you feel about Crouch’s approach to time travel in this novel compared to other works in the genre—for example, his Dark Matter? What makes this interpretation unique or compelling?
2. What was your emotional response to the way Recursion handles memory and identity? Which character’s struggle with multiple timeline memories affected you most deeply?
3. The novel alternates between Barry’s and Helena’s perspectives until later sections. How did this structure impact your experience of the story and its themes?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. The characters often struggle with accepting past events they wish they could change. Have any moments in your life been particularly challenging to accept, and how do those moments relate to the characters’ journeys?
2. Helena dedicates herself to helping Alzheimer’s patients through her research. What do you understand to be the relationship between memory and identity?
3. The novel explores different types of love—parental, romantic, and lost love. Which relationship in the book resonated most with your own experiences?
4. Consider the novel’s depiction of the relationship between power and corruption. Do you believe authority necessarily corrupts? Why or why not?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to broader societal issues, cultural trends, and ethical dilemmas.
1. How does the novel’s treatment of scientific advancement and corporate control reflect current debates about technology ethics?
2. What does the government’s eventual involvement with the chair suggest about the relationship between scientific discovery and military applications of scientific knowledge? If you’ve read Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time, how does this novel’s treatment of similar subject matter compare?
3. Consider the novel’s depiction of society’s collective desire to correct past mistakes. What does it suggest about the cost of such attempts? What implications does this have for real-world societies?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and use of narrative techniques.
1. How does the symbol of the Big Bend building contribute to the novel’s themes about converging timelines and memory?
2. Consider the role of the deprivation tank as both a practical device and a metaphor for rebirth. How does this symbolism enhance the story?
3. How do Barry and Helena’s character arcs complement each other throughout the novel? What does their relationship reveal about the theme of acceptance?
4. Examine how Crouch uses sensory details, particularly scent, to ground readers in different timelines. How does this technique affect the reading experience?
5. Consider the novel’s exploration of intellectual property through Helena’s struggle to control her invention. How does this subplot enhance the larger narrative?
Creative Engagement
Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book’s content and themes.
1. Design your own memory chair experiment protocol that might avoid the catastrophic consequences seen in the novel. What safeguards would you put in place?
2. If you were to write an additional chapter set five years after the Epilogue, what would you explore about Barry and Helena’s relationship?
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