Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of antigay bias, racism, gender discrimination, and ableism.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Have you read any of Doerr’s other novels, like All the Light We Cannot See, or collections like Memory Wall? How does this novel compare, particularly with regard to Doerr’s distinctive narrative techniques, like jumping between timelines or slowly enmeshing disparate stories?

2. How does this novel compare to other transhistorical or multigenerational novels, like Pachinko or Homegoing? Do you tend to enjoy these kinds of epic stories? Why or why not?

3. How does this novel critique the idea of utopia, especially as compared to other texts that explore utopia’s possibility or impossibility? For instance, Thomas More’s Utopia, which coined the word, or novels and short stories in which dystopias disguise themselves as utopias, like Brave New World, 1984, and Scythe, or “The Lottery,” “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” and “

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