Discussion Questions

1. The epigraph explains that plainsong is “the unisonous vocal music used in the Christian church from the earliest times; any simple and unadorned melody or air. Plainsong is set in the fictitious town, Holt, located on the high plains of eastern Colorado. Why did the author choose this title? How does the definition of the title apply to the tone of the book?

2. In the opening chapters we learn that Tom Guthrie’s wife, Ella, has retreated in isolation to the guest bedroom. What is Tom’s response to this? Could he have done more for Ella? Was he remiss in not taking an active role in seeking medical help for her? Or is he out of touch with what is happening to her?

3. No description is given for what may have led up to Ella’s depression. How do you imagine Tom and Ella’s marriage before she withdrew? Do you think that they were ever a happy family?

4. Plainsong explores what it means to be part of a community and what happens when families are not perfect. Ike and Bobby attempt to deal with their mother’s withdrawal and abandonment by turning to elderly Mrs. Stern as a surrogate mother or grandmother. How does her death affect the two little boys? Does it create a setback in their struggle to find a safe haven?

5. Why are Ike and Bobby drawn to the McPheron brothers? How are the elderly McPheron brothers and the young Guthrie brothers similar?

6. Victoria Roubideaux, also, must cope with the loss of her home as well as a pervasive lack of love in her life. She turns to Maggie Jones and is eventually taken in by the McPheron brothers. What is the author trying to tell us about community and our ideas of what a family is?

7. The McPheron brothers have had no experiences that would prepare them for dealing with a teenaged girl. Why do they agree to take in Victoria? Has their lonely, solitary lifestyle affected their ability to build a relationship with Victoria? How would you rate their success? How would you compare the McPherons’ ability to connect with Victoria with Tom’s ability to connect with his own two sons?

8. Not much is said about Victoria’s father. What do you suspect about who or what her father was? What do suppose he was like? Victoria seems to be lonely and somewhat an outcast in town. Can this in part be attributed to who her father was?

9. Each of the main characters is strong in their own way. And each character is on the cusp of a new stage in life. Victoria, at seventeen, is forced to leave her childhood behind. Ike and Bobby are suddenly motherless. Tom has lost a wife. The McPheron brothers seem to be old and crusty. What are they on the verge of? Are they young at heart? What lessons are they about to learn? What life experiences are they about to have?

10. All of the characters grow and change over the course of the story. However, Maggie Jones changes the least. She begins as a healthy adult. Why is she so important to the story? What role does her character play?

11. Food is repeatedly mentioned throughout the story. In the first few pages we witness Tom serving his boys heavy crockery plates piled with steaming eggs and buttered toast. A few chapters later we see Victoria retching into the toilet and later in the day selecting a meal of popcorn and soda pop at the convenience store. And the final scene involves the preparation of a meal. What does food represent in this story?

12. Is the ending a happy ending in the traditional sense? What issues are resolved for the characters? What issues remain to challenge the characters the morning after this story ends?


Also by Kent Haruf

The Tie That Binds 
"An impressive, expertly crafted work of sensitivity and detail. Powerful." --Los Angeles Times Book Review 
Kent Haruf sets his first novel on the American High Plains, delivering the tale of Edith: a childhood of pre-dawn chores, a mother's death, and the violence of a father dependent on his children and enraged about it. Here is a story of sacrifice of happiness in the name of family obligation. The Tie That Binds is a “powerfully eloquent tribute to the arduous demands of days gone by, and of the tenacity of the human spirit.” 

Where You Once Belonged 
"A beautifully told parable--simple and stark and true." --Newsday 
Holt County is the setting for the story of Burdette, a fun loving high school football hero with everything going for him: townspeople admire him; the loveliest girl in the county loves him. But his youthful pranks turn into crimes as he becomes a man--with unspeakable consequences.

Suggestions for further reading

Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio
Willa Cather, My Ántonia
Joe Coomer, A Flatland Fable
Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain
Kaye Gibbons, Sights Unseen
David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars
Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time 
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is
William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow
Cormac McCarthy, The Border Trilogy
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance
Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist, Ladder of Years
Eudora Welty, The Golden Apples, The Optimist's Daughter

Internet Sites

http://www.siu.edu/departments/english/gradfaculty/kenharuf.html

http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/plainsong/

http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/10/18/haruf/

http://readinggroupguides.com/guides/plainsong.asp

http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/3774af2f.815,.html

http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1199/haruf/

http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/haruf.htm

Article on Kent Haruf in Contemporary Authors 

At your library or online in Literature Resource Center at
http://library.ci.scottsdale.az.us/OnlineResearch/infodata.htm


Tips for Starting a Book Discussion Group

Organize the nature of your group.

Decide where your club will meet. You could meet in your own home. You may want to rotate meetings to a different member’s home each time. Check your local public library, bookstores, community center, or coffee shops. They may have space available for use by your discussion group.

Decide whether or not you want refreshments at your meetings. And if so, who will provide the refreshments.

What type of books do you want your group to read? Establish some criteria for your book selections. Only fiction? Only classics? Only books available in paperback? Do you want your selections to be based on a theme? For example, prize winners, multi-cultural subject matter, gentle reads, or a particular genre (mystery, science fiction, thrillers).

Decide if the same person will play the leadership role each time or will leadership be rotated between all of the members.

Will the leader make the book selection or will the entire group make the book selection?

Decide how often your club will meet. Once a month? Once every two months?

Make your book selections several months in advance. Make sure that a enough copies are available at bookstores or the library. If possible, hand out copies of the upcoming book at the end of each meeting.

Prepare for your book discussion.

Now that you know what your group will read, when and where you will meet, you can start preparing for your discussion.

Whether you write your own discussion questions or use prepared questions, you will want to read the book with a critical eye.

Make notes as you read. Analyze the author’s style. Pay attention to the author’s message. Look for symbolism in the book. Notice the structure of the book.

Focus on: Who wrote the book. What do you know about the author? Who are the characters in the book? What do they do? What is the book about? Where does it take place? Why do you like or dislike it?

Prepare ten or twelve questions. Keep the conversation moving. Keep the questions broad with lots of room to answer. 

Questions for many books (but certainly not all books) prepared by the book publishers are available on the Internet. Amazon.com provides links to Book Discussion Guides. Ballantine Reader’s Circle books come with the reading guides bound in. A general Internet search for book discussion guides and the title of book will generally yield a discussion guide if it is available.

And finally, enjoy! Remember what the book club is all about, reading books and enjoying an evening of camaraderie and conversation. This is supposed to be fun.