We had another wonderful book club meeting this month. What is it about sitting around with other people and discussing books that is so enjoyable?!
Book Club Questions:
1. Did you like the book?
It's always so fun to get a group of people together to discuss books. There were lots of mixed opinions about The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Some of us wanted a more complete ending at the end of the first book. They felt there were more questions than answers. We did decide that there was an ending of sorts until you read the letter. But that just leaves you with even more questions! (Guess we'll have to read the next two books to find out the answers.) Do you like that approach or do you think every book in a series ought to be able to stand on its own?
2. Who was your favorite character?
I thought it was interesting that Thomas wasn't really anybody's favorite character (although we did like that he had good qualities and was a protagonist we could rally around). Most of our group liked Chuck, Newt, and Frypan. Chuck humanized the gladers for us, Newt is just awesome, and Frypan is the nurturer. *Newt is my favorite and I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say this -- NEWT! (Like I said, you'll have to read the next two books.)
3. Discuss the differences between the book and the movie. What worked? What was left out?
No telepathy?! What's up with that? We decided that they did a decent job cutting things down to fit into the time frame. The grievers were certainly different than the slug-like creatures you read about in the book. For some of us a more spider-y griever had a greater scare factor.
4. Did it matter that Teresa was a girl? Could they have thrown in another boy and said he was the last one ever and gotten the same results? What do you think?
We talked about the fact that they threw in a girl right at the end instead of at the beginning of the experiment. We decided that if she had been there from the beginning they would have been self-sustaining and not as motivated to find a way out of the maze. But did it make a difference that it was a girl last? Perhaps for the shock factor - to help the boys realize that things are really changing.
5. Did you want more insight from the eyes of the people running the experiment to understand why they were putting the kids through these insane trials? What were the observers learning?
Quite a few of the members of our group wanted more psychological answers in this book. They wanted to better understand what was going on in the world outside to make them put the children through such drastic experimentation.
6. Do you like the use of the glader's slang? Did it enhance the book or was it an easy way to get around using actual swear words?
Again, our group had mixed feelings on this. Some thought it was a clever way to avoid swearing. Others wondered if they already had the English language, why would they need to invent new swear/slang words? But then again, they are teenage boys and we all know that teenagers use strange words (just read a text message).
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| Photo by Lauren Raeder |
So, do you like The Maze Runner? Most of our group did.
Thank you Michele for hosting book club this month. You did a fabulous job!
