SPOILER ALERT!
DON'T READ UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE BOOK!
UNDER THE SKIN ~ BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
1. SISTERHOOD
A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double. ~Toni Morrison
Do you think this is true of all sisters? How is this true for Elizabeth and Gloria?
I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. ~Maya Angelou
How does this relate to the book? How do Elizabeth and Gloria grow into sisterhood? What things were at the heart of their jealousy towards one another?
What is the sister relationship like between the DeVines?
If you never had a sister, can you really understand what it's like? (Did Vicki, who never had a sister, get it right?)
We expect siblings raised in the same family to be similar but so often they aren’t. What might be some reasons?
Under the Skin -- What does the title mean to you?
2. SPIRITUALISM (aka WOO-WOO)
Why are some people drawn to the "exploration of the other side" while others are totally skeptical?
Were you surprised at the different reactions of Gloria and Elizabeth?
Interest in spiritualism seems to come and go. Why might that be?
Supernatural elements in UTS – do you accept them? Is Elizabeth’s attitude toward these weird things what you expect?
3. TRUST
Trust might be called one of the themes of the book. What various trust issues are addressed?
4. MOUNTAIN CULTURE - Then and Now
How do Amarantha and Miss Birdie link past and present?
Have you had any experiences with folk medicine and/or folklore here in the mountains?
5. MENTAL ILLNESS
Is it a cop out to use mental illness in mystery fiction?
Is the relationship between Joss and Gloria believable -- from Gloria's desire to have her lost baby to Joss's mental illness and regression to infantile behavior?
What is going too far? (I'm specifically talking about one scene in Under the Skin that did bother some folks.)
What is going too far? (I'm specifically talking about one scene in Under the Skin that did bother some folks.)
