The Nightingale Readers Group discussion
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Mar 06, 2015 11:04AM
Every week we'll have new discussion questions for The Nightingale. Answer one or all of them, and keep coming back to keep the discussion going.
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Week 1 Discussion Questions:1) Who was your favorite character?
2) If you were in charge of casting a movie version of The Nightingale, who would you pick?
3) Have your friend or family ever underestimated you? How did you respond?
Good questions. 1. I think Kristin did a nice job helping us relate to sides of both sisters.
2. If I were casting the movie, which, yes, SHOULD be done!!, it maybe:
Vianne--Kate Winslet
Isabel--Jennifer Lawrence
Gaetan--Bradley Cooper
Antoinne--Hugh Jackman
Other characters to come...
3. Yes! I remember as a teen, my best friends joked about who we'd all become. One a doctor, the other, the nurse, and me, they laughed, the prostitute who would keep infecting all the men in town and keep them in business. With friends like that, who needs enemies, right? Okay, I was a bit loose that year, but that really hurt, and I withdrew from them. Later, I realized my choices were coming from a place of deep woundedness (abuse) and got help. As it turned out, they are neither doctor nor nurse, but I am an occupational therapist, faithful wife and grandmother, who has paved the way for my daughter and granddaughter to live lives free from child abuse! This is confidential, right?!?! ;-)
At the end of the book when Vianne mentions she will soon join her sister and daughter she never mentions Antoine? What happened to him? It doesn't appear he is alive but yet she doesn't say he is dead either. And did Antoine ever figure out Julian wasn't his. Some commnents he made while she was pregnant made me think he knew but didn't want to face it and accepted the baby as they had wanted more children and couldn't conceive. Loved the book. Very different from your usual beach books. Have to tell you I cried through most of the book. Such a sad war and atrocities that took place.
Question 1) Who was my favorite character?: Isabelle was my favorite. She was impulsive, strong, rebellious, wounded,lonely, rejected,vulnerable, yearning, determined needy and most of all courageous, because she had nothing to lose.
Question 2) If I were in charge of casting in Hollywood here is who I would choose:
Vianne Mauriac: Audrey Tautou
Isabelle Rossignol: Marion Cotillard
Antoine Mauriac: Johnny Depp
Gartan: Robert James-Collier
Papa Rossignol: Brendan Coyle
Beck: Leonardo DiCaprio
Question 3) Have your friends or family ever underestimated you? How did you respond?
Life throw you curves all the time, it's life. I have surprised both my friends and family at different times but most of all I have surprised my self.
Marie wrote: "At the end of the book when Vianne mentions she will soon join her sister and daughter she never mentions Antoine? What happened to him? It doesn't appear he is alive but yet she doesn't say he is ..."Hi Marie! Actually, Antoine's death is mentioned in the very beginning of the book. It was page 2 of my Kindle edition. "I have aged in the months since my husband's death and my diagnosis."
Oh thanks so much. I missed that. I'll go back. I guess it was strange she didn't mention she'd be joining her husband too.
Joan wrote: "Good questions. 1. I think Kristin did a nice job helping us relate to sides of both sisters.
2. If I were casting the movie, which, yes, SHOULD be done!!, it maybe:
Vianne--Kate Winslet
Isabel--..."
LOVE your casting!!! Fingers crossed!
Debbie wrote: "Marie wrote: "At the end of the book when Vianne mentions she will soon join her sister and daughter she never mentions Antoine? What happened to him? It doesn't appear he is alive but yet she does..."Yep!! That's the answer!! Antoine lived a good long happy life in the post war years. :)
Meaux wrote: "Question 1) Who was my favorite character?: Isabelle was my favorite. She was impulsive, strong, rebellious, wounded,lonely, rejected,vulnerable, yearning, determined needy and most of all cour..."
INTERESTING!!!
Shelley wrote: "My vision for Hollywood:As I was reading I pictured Vianne looking like Cate Blanchette."
Great idea!! Love it!
I loved Isabel. This novel was heartrending. I learned so much about conditions in France in World War II.I am a longtime fan of Kristin Hannah, and couldn't wait to read The Nightingale. It was a multiple tissue book!
I am puzzled, please help.How did Vianne and Antoine and "their" son get to America I don't think it was ever mentioned - she was just there
New Discussion Questions!1) Which sister are you? Vianne is careful, nurturing, and steady, while Isabelle is impetuous, romantic, and flexible.
2) Have you ever been at ideological odds with a family member? Did you work through it, or are you still sat at opposite ends of the table at family gatherings?
3) Did you learn a new piece of World War II history while reading The Nightingale?
My oldest son spent his junior year in college, studying in Aix En Provence. While on spring break with him, we toured many of the locations and he had learned so very much about the Vichy government. He still educates people when they talk about WW II. This is such a profound book, parts should really be used in schools.
1) I think many maybe most of us are BOTH sisters. I think while KH did a great job of highlighting their stronger characteristics and showing how that separated them...I don't think Id want to choose between the characteristics of the two bc Just like as Isabelle learned as she got older and matured that sometimes she needed to put her n Viannes needs second to her neices n bite her tongue to protect her (Niece) and her sister too; so too did Vi realize she had to do more even if it meant some risk taking to help others ie the MOST innocent of the innocent, jewish children at that time. Like these ladies I would say I have some of the characteristics of both of them. While I can be impulsive and a romantic and certainly was in my younger years, im certainly not that over nurturing etc. (On the app so I can't refer back to the exact wording of the questions to list which of each ladies attributes I have exactly but you get the gist)
As i said Kristin did a great job of making the sisters stand out and be individual and show their biggest ways while also endowing each with an array including some of her sisters thereby making them very HUMAN like you and I.
Sorry needed to check back at the next questions and the order by time I finished that one..2) but of COURSE! As I said we are human and not part of the Brady Bunch. Oh heck im sure they had their differences too!
Some of the bigger differences of opinion such as my marriage to a non jew which to the orthodox jewish side of my family was a big enough no no to barely see me or talk to me beyond making sure i and my daughter born a few months after my marriage were alive and well settled down. By my daughters first BDAY they were all there smiling and a year later at the yearly Chanukah party my grandma gave my hubby a cmas card with a check in it when she gave me a Chanukah card with same inside. Ok my check was $100 and his was $50 but that was more blood related than religion and I don't think she ever expected to give s cmas card to a member of our own family. Also my aunt who was at least as against the Union welcomed us into her home where the party was.
Why did things change? I think bc of how important FAMILY is to us all as my grandmother at 16 and her brother at 15 fled / was sent by her parents to ny to aunts and an uncle here already at the last possible minute to save them from Hitler, from Vienna...her mother wouldn't leave bc her father was not allowed. It cost a fortune to get them allowed and they were only allowed to leave with $4 each (my grandma put the $8 together n bought my uncle shoes on the ship) both her parents and grandmother and much of our family were murdered. So family was the most important thing and she could never stay mad at us.
I was young and a romantic but I honestly learned as I got older that traditions even if im not and my parents chose not to raise us religious per se, but sticking to marrying a Jew and having a spouse with a similar background and all that entails has become much more important to me.
So before I go on with other examples and write my own novel here my family gave in first rather than lose us from their family even if their true feelings on the matter never changed im sure. But I've seen changed my perspective a ton too.
Other aspects of my personality from posting tmi for my brother or cousins' taste on Facebook or things I can't help that they don't realize stem from my ADD etc probably remain bones of contention to them but I try to do things that upset them less when they'll see and I also feel take me or leave me this is who I am. And I'm sure they bite their tongues too still at times.
3. I don't want to make this a million pages just bc I napped today lol but I learned sooo much. As much as I've read ww2 real accounts and some select fiction I had never read much about what happened in France during this war. So i learned about the women who with not much in the history books to tell us did as much as they could n more than men thought them capable and how that made it easier to hide in plain sight at times. But I also learned what the French went thru in general where I had more oft read about Germany, Austria, Poland and even Russia but very little about France. So in addition to a very emotional read I felt I learned very much from the book!!!
