Book Stuff - The Lessons By Naomi Alderman

I've just finished reading a book called 'The Lessons' by Naomi Alderman. It's a book that has been out for a while that I've eyed up a few times in the library and finally decided to check it out last week. It was one of those books that I could have happily read in a day if I hadn't have started reading it during a very busy week. The book is all about a boy called James, who is kind of a loner and outsider who goes to Oxford university where he is kind of taken under the wing of a very rich boy called Mark. James is invited to move into a house with Mark and a group of his friends and he enters into a strange world of luxury and wealth, but there's a kind of dark sinister side to Mark that James has to painfully uncover. I've made a bit of an attempt at answering some reading group questions on the book, so let's dive in! Question 1: early in the book Mark is writing an essay entitled "A God who does not suffer cannot save: discuss" Can one person save another? Is suffering a necessary part of this? Could Jess save James? Can James save Mark? How about Mark and Leo? Answer: There is a difference between physically saving somebody and emotionally saving them. In the book Mark physically saves Leo from drowning which is achievable, but Jess tries to save James emotionally and James does the same thing for Mark. As humans we frequently try to save people and it always encompasses suffering, you can never truly save somebody because you ultimately just become a shield for them so that they don't have to deal with any of their own issues. Question 2: why do you think Jess wanted to be in a relationship with James? Answer: I think Jess was a rescuer, I think in James she saw a vulnerable person who need protecting. James talks about Jess being a serious almost mother type figure, and somebody childlike and lost like James would have appealed to her nature. Question 3: "people change, our tastes develop. I used to like sleeping with boys, and now I like sleeping with Nicola" what do you think? Is this how sexuality works? Can it be? Answer: I believe that bisexuality exists, but I think it is more of a curiosity thing. I think ultimately our sexuality cannot be changed although of course we can try to deny it or mould it to suit ourselves and our fears and desires. Mark was clearly gay, but I think his desire to be a father and be somewhat normal forced him to make a decision or create an illusion that he was straight. Question 4: The Cavafy poem that opens the novel talks about "longings that have passed without being satisfied". In the novel is it better to have desires satisfied or unsatisfied? How about in life? Answer: I definitely think the characters in the novel would have been a lot better off having their desires unsatisfied, James loses Jess because of his desire to be with Mark, and Mark loses a child and the family life he craves because of his desire to sleep around with boys. In life I think with longings we have to weigh up at what cost they should be satisfied as we might end up paying a heavy price for not leaving them be. Question 5: "beauty is a lie, but it is so hard to spot". Does James love Mark and Oxford mainly because they are beautiful? Do people love James because he is beautiful? Answer: James buys into the beautiful and prestigious idea he has been sold of Oxford by his family and I think he is drawn into Mark and his world too because they appear so beautiful and somewhat untouchable. Mark describes James as beautiful, but I think people love James because his vulnerability has a person is beautiful to them. Question 6: "Doesn't everyone want this? To stay together with their university friends forever?". If none of us ever had to make any money would we want this forever? Answer: if there wasn't a need to earn money then I think a lot of people would be tempted to carry on living in shared student houses. During my time at work I've seen a lot of people struggling to put university life behind them, it's a golden carefree time for a lot of people and they have a desire to carry on living in it. In the novel James enjoys the life he lives with Mark and the others but he can understand that it is a moment in time and that he will eventually have to have responsibilities and a career. Mark doesn't want it to end because the group he has around him are ultimately protecting him from himself.