A READER’S GUIDE TO BALLROOM—Questions for Your Book Group Discussion

 

Available in Paperback

The Ballroom used to be a place to see and be seen, but the years have taken their toll. By the end of the 1990s, this Manhattan dance hall is a husk of its former self. A small crowd of loyal patrons still makes its way to the worn parquet floor every Sunday evening: although they each have their private reasons for returning again and again to the Ballroom, they all find solace within its walls—and in the magic of dance.

In this deeply felt debut, Alice Simpson deftly unfolds the lives of these men and women, entwining their stories into a profoundly human narrative about our instinctual longing to love and to be loved.

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR BOOK GROUP TO DISCUSS:

 

1. Ballroom is a novel about dancing—the dancers themselves and their partner relationships— but it is also about the human condition. What are the themes of this book? What does the Ballroom represent?

2. Ballroom can be described as a fugue—a composition in which a short melody or phrase is introduced by one part, successively taken up by others, then developed by interweaving the parts together. How do you think the novel would have been different if only one character was telling the story?

3.The novel is set in New York City in the year 1999. If this book were set in the present day, how do you think the circumstances and relationships portrayed would be different?

4. Sarah yearns for a romance like those she sees on screen. Do you think that cinematic portrayals of love are realistic? Why or why not? How does Sarah’s inability to have a relationship affect her judgment? What might you have done differently than Sarah?

5. Why do you think Gabriel and Myra stay in their marriage?

6. Harry lies to himself. Consider how the other characters rely on self-delusion. What lies do they tell themselves? Do you think most people see themselves clearly?

7. Did you find the characters’ loneliness and inability to form relationships believable? With which character did you most identify? Why?

8. If you could insert yourself as a character in the book, what role would you play? Would you rather be a new character or take the place of an existing one?

9. Have you ever gone dancing or to a nightclub or bar by yourself? Why? What was your impression of the people you met? What was the experience like for you? Would you do it again?

10. Did the end of the book surprise or disappoint you? Did you expect the characters’ lives to be resolved by the end of the book? If you could rewrite the ending, how would you change it?

Ballroom

By Alice Simpson

Harper Paperbacks

ISBN: 9780062323040

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