If you're reading "Waking Lazarus" as part of a book club, thanks. Download a printable list of discussion questions, or browse the questions below.

{ Discussion Questions for Waking Lazarus }

1. Why do you think the book was called Waking Lazarus? Was it an appropriate title for the story?

2. The main character’s name is Jude Allman. Do you think this story is an allegory--something that’s about “all men” (and all women)? In what way?

3. The book deals with some unsettling subject matter: violence against children. Why do you think the author built the story around this subject?

4. The book is set in Red Lodge, Montana. Why do you think the author chose to set the story in a real town, rather than a fictional town? Does it add anything to the story?

5. After Jude falls through the ice in the first scene, “another idea came to William (Jude’s father), an unsavory idea he chewed on for a moment while looking at the black hole of water.” What do you think this idea was? Why was William thinking it?

6. Jude begins the story as a character who is a borderline schizophrenic, but by the story’s end, he’s grown. (For instance, he’s able to sleep while lying down, and he doesn’t fear outsiders breaking into his home.) What do you think was most responsible for his “healing”?

7. We typically think of celebrities as living lives of luxury and comfort. But the book suggests that both our public figures and our culture are warped by the celebrity/fan relationship: Jude’s mental problems can be traced to his celebrity status, because people always “want” something from him. Do you think our culture is too celebrity-obsessed, as the book suggests?

8. Early in the book, Jude tells his father William about one vivid memory of them together, flying a kite. Near the end, William says, “I remembered flying that kite with you...and now that I think about it, the wind wasn’t all that bad.” Why do you think this memory of kite flying becomes important to both of them? Does it symbolize something?