Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. The narrator’s decision to feign the recording of Thomas sets the entire story in motion. How did this central act of deception shape your reading experience and your trust in the narrator from the very beginning?

2. How does this novel fit within Ben Lerner’s broader body of work, especially his autofictional trilogy that includes The Topeka School? For those who have read Lerner before, did you see an evolution in his style or themes? If this was your first book by him, are you curious to read more?

3. How effective was the novel’s use of autofiction, a genre that intentionally blurs the line between the author’s life and the story? Did you find this style enhanced the themes of memory and fabrication, or did it create any challenges for you as a reader?

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

1. The narrator’s crisis begins when he destroys his phone, a state he calls being “deviceless.” What did you think about the depiction of his withdrawal from the digital world? Have you ever had a similar experience of being unexpectedly offline, and did it change your perception of your surroundings or your past?

2. The narrator describes his intellectual bond with Thomas as formative, yet he’s also forced to confront his mentor’s deep personal failings. Think about a mentor or influential figure in your own life. How do we reconcile the admiration we have for someone’s talents with the reality of their human flaws?

3. Thinking about Anisa’s fabricated story about Mia, have you ever found that a narrative you believed to be true was entirely constructed? How did that discovery affect your understanding of your own memory and the stories people tell?

4. The novel explores how disembodied voices on phones and recordings can feel both intensely intimate and strangely distant. Max can only tell his father the truth over the phone, while the narrator feels his daughter’s voice is ancient on a landline. How has technology shaped the most important conversations in your own life?

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

1. Digital technology is presented as a complex force, one that both causes anxiety and offers strange solutions, like the ASMR videos that help Emmie eat. What commentary do you think the novel is making about our reliance on screens to mediate our reality? Does technology ultimately numb us to the world, or does it provide necessary tools for survival?

2. Rosa calls the narrator’s reconstructed interview a “deepfake,” connecting his personal, literary fabrication to a very modern technological anxiety. How does the novel’s exploration of “truth” speak to our current moment, where distinguishing between authentic and artificial content is an everyday challenge?

3. What does the novel suggest about the ways historical trauma, like Thomas’s childhood in Nazi Germany, is passed down through generations? Do you see a connection between the large-scale events of his past and the specific, personal anxieties of characters like Eva and Emmie?

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

1. The novel is structured in three distinct parts, with the final section shifting unexpectedly to Max’s first-person perspective. What was the effect of hearing directly from Max after spending so much time inside the narrator’s consciousness? How did his story reshape your understanding of Thomas and the narrator’s ethical choices?

2. What happens to the meaning of the recording device as it passes from the narrator’s story to Max’s?

3. Why do you think the narrator felt compelled to invent the term “fiction” to describe his experience of seeing the glass flowers?

4. In what ways do the narrator and Max function as foils for one another, especially in their roles as sons and fathers?

5. Compare the portrayal of mentorship in this novel with a book like Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. Both feature a narrator whose identity is profoundly shaped by a powerful, enigmatic, and flawed older man. How do both novels explore the complex legacies of such influential figures?

6. What is the significance of the epilogue, which features a letter from the glass modeler Leopold Blaschka? How does this final piece of text illuminate the novel’s ideas about inheritance, art, and fatherhood?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. The narrator develops a way of seeing the world that he calls “fiction,” a choice to perceive the artificial nature of reality. Following the narrator’s methodology, discuss your own personal approach for making sense of the world. What would you call it and why?

2. How would the novel change if Thomas were given his own section to tell his story? What anecdotes would he fixate on? How might they change from what has been presented from the novel thus far?

3. The glass flowers are imagined as delicate “recording instruments” that have captured every sound in their presence. If you could listen to a single moment they’ve “recorded” over the past century, what conversation or sound would you choose to hear?