Paris Locked - Reading Group Questions

THE PAST

This novel grapples with the idea of our personal pasts, the way they form and enrich, but also trap us. What role does the past play in the life of Marian? And of Jason?

We give value to our collective pasts as expressed through architecture, cities, landscape, art and histories, but many people, like Marian, struggle with personal histories. Discuss the difference.

Discuss the role of the Samaritaine department store (chapters 8 and 32).

How much of the depressing past should we remember in everyday life? Dark cultural heritage and dark tourism are also called thana-heritage and thana-tourism, from the Greek ‘thánatos’ meaning ‘death’. Should we be reminded of past horrors as we move around our towns and cities?

LOVELOCKS

What is your attitude to lovelocks?

Is attaching a lovelock in a public place an act of vandalism or a harmless expression of delight in love and landscape?

What other ways do people perform in public space?

Locked in and locked out, discuss lovelocks as metaphors for personal and public life.

IMMIGRATION

This is an issue in many countries who receive immigrants from places that have become unliveable due to their economies, climate change, politics, war and the legacies of colonisation. Discuss the role of undocumented immigration in this story.

If your country was once colonised and exploited, should you have the right to live in the former colonising country today?

Why are many people in western countries opposed to immigration from poor countries?

Discuss the moral issues, especially in light of climate change.

ART

Marian looks at the world with an artist’s eye. Remember when you have been deeply moved by a painting, a book or a piece of music. Have you seen the world differently from that experience? Are you able to put that change into words?

Consider the role of art in the story, especially The Massacre of the Innocents by Poussin and Rouen Cathedral Façade Morning Effect by Monet.

Water and colour, especially yellow, are recurring motifs. What roles do they have?

MORAL INJURY

Marian has moral injuries. Returning soldiers often deal with such injuries, but those around them might not realise the depth of the psychological damage. Discuss ways to deal with moral injuries.

Killing or harming a pedestrian with a car can give rise to a moral injury. Discuss the kinds of moral injuries we might encounter outside war?

Discuss CADIs (those who Cause Accidental Death or Injury). What help do they need? The Book of Numbers (35: 23-28) in the Bible gives advice on their protection. What more can we give today with the insights of contemporary psychology?

GRIEF

The Western world is often descried as ‘death denying’. What is the place of grief in such a world?

What social obligation are we under in the West to recover quickly from painful events?

Today, grief is often medicated. Discuss the implications of taking drugs to blunt a key human emotion.

MARIAN

What does she want?

Why does she not photograph some key moments in her life?

Is she unfair to expect Jason to react as she does to The Massacre of the Innocents by Poussin?

Is Jason correct to say that she is incapable of forgiveness?

How does Marian cope with grief?

Marian focuses on the danger posed by other lovelock-laden bridges. Does this make sense? Is she misguided? Obsessed?

JASON

Do we know what he wants?

Why do you think he gave up art?

Why does he appear to have lost his awareness of the power of art on human emotion and thought? Or is his apparent insensitivity part of his avoidance of the emotional intensity of Marian?

Does he love Marian?

Does Marian understand him?

Is he casually unfaithful?

How do you evaluate his infidelity considering his childhood background?

Discuss chapter 23 which is the only chapter from his point of view?

Discuss the impact on a novel of a change of point of view in a single chapter.

STEPHANIE

What sort of person is Stephanie?

Discuss her shadowy but powerful role in the story.

Why are her miniatures late to arrive in Paris?

CHILDREN

How are they depicted?

Discuss changing attitudes to children (from extra pairs of hands, to living a delightful fantasy, to protection, to over-protection, to…).

Marian is critical of actions that over-protect children because she regards children as living in the real world. To her adult daughter, Olivia, however, she maintains the over-protective façade that all is well in her parents’ marriage even though her daughter lets her know that she sees the cracks. Consider Marian’s contradictory attitudes towards children.

Is Marian morally right to take photographs of unknown children in the street without parental approval?

LANDSCAPE

Discuss the roles of the River Seine and Paris.

There is growing concern about the destructive impact of over-tourism, both at the level of the physical impact and banalisation. Marian sees tourists are emotionally distanced from what is in front of them. How might the problems be solved without damaging local tourism economies?