The Blue Hour

In The Blue Hour, power dynamics between characters frequently intersect with broader issues of patriarchy and violence. How does Hawkins depict gendered power imbalances in the novel, both on an interpersonal and structural level? Consider how these dynamics contribute to the novel’s plot development and key themes. How do characters like Vanessa and Grace challenge, subvert, or complicate these power dynamics?

Grace is eventually revealed as a killer who is responsible for several deaths. In what ways is she a typical villain, and how does she defy this characterization? Does Hawkins deliberately cultivate sympathy for Grace? If so, how?

How is friendship portrayed in the novel? Consider the friendship between Grace and Vanessa and the friendship between Becker and Sebastian. How does Hawkins portray these friendships as similar and different, particularly as they relate to tension and jealousy? How do they compare to the portrayals of romantic relationships within the novel?

Memory plays a central role in the novel, with many characters reflecting on past events and the integration of flashbacks. How does memory shape the motivations and actions of Becker, Vanessa, and Grace? Analyze how Hawkins depicts memories as reliable and inherently unstable in the novel. How does the manipulation or selective remembering of the past contribute to the overall suspense, tension, or pacing of the novel?

The Blue Hour features descriptions of various artworks, including sculptures and paintings. Using textual evidence, evaluate Hawkins’s use of ekphrasis. How does the author effectively evoke a visual medium? Which visual aspects are most vivid?

The novel alternates between Becker’s and Grace’s points of view, with sections from Vanessa’s perspective. Events are also presented in a non-linear chronology. How does this narrative structure heighten tension and suspense? To what extent are the perspectives of the different characters reliable and consistent?

The novel’s ending is ambiguous: Do you think that Becker drowns? If so, how is this conclusion a departure from other mysteries or psychological thrillers you have read? What is the significance of Grace potentially being successful at concealing her crimes?

The novel ends with an excerpt from Vanessa’s diary, in which she muses, “It matters what you leave behind. The art you made, or the people. The friends you loved. The good you did, the bad” (310). How does this quotation reflect the themes of the novel? What, in the end, is Vanessa’s legacy? If we assume that Becker dies at the conclusion, what is the legacy he leaves behind?