Losing the Light
Page 28
6. Sophie responds defensively when Brooke suggests that her life is ideal or close to it. Do you think this tension between how Brooke views Sophie’s life in comparison to her own—and Sophie’s subsequent objections—reveals a lack of understanding on Brooke’s side, or Sophie’s? Do things come more easily to Sophie?
7. How do Brooke, Sophie, and Alex use lies and secrets to cultivate the image they want to project? Consider how Brooke’s affair with her professor is discussed, Sophie’s “disclosure” that she is a virgin, Alex’s latest photography project, or any other withheld or manipulated facts. When and why do these characters choose to reveal their secrets?
8. The trip to France in some ways marks the beginning of adulthood for Brooke and Sophie, giving them the opportunity to live away from their parents and invent themselves as the people they’d like to be. In what ways do we see them mature or develop over the course of the book? In what respects do they remain on the edge of adulthood?
9. Monsieur Boulu, the professor of translation, asserts that everything, even onomatopoeia, is understood through the specificity of languages—that language is “not just a way of speaking but a whole way of communicating with the world.” Do you see this idea elsewhere in the novel? If you speak a foreign language, can you think of any examples of how differences in language can change how you understand something?
10. The conclusion of Losing the Light leaves Sophie’s fate ambiguous. Discuss what you think happened to Sophie at the end of the novel. Do different possible endings change how you interpret Brooke, Sophie, or their relationship? If so, how?
11. What do you think would have happened if Brooke had taken the flight to France that Sophie sent her a ticket for? Would they have been able to mend their friendship? Would Sophie have continued lying to Brooke about aspects of her life? How might Brooke’s life down the line be different?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Losing the Light is told from the perspective of Brooke, and there is often a sense (especially after Sophie’s emailed confession) that there is perhaps a very different story simultaneously taking place from Sophie’s perspective. As a group, choose a scene with Brooke and Sophie, and rewrite it through Sophie’s eyes. Share and discuss how you think the situation took place from Sophie’s point of view.
2. Imagine you are planning a study abroad trip. Where would you want to travel to, and why? If you have previously lived abroad, would you want to return to the same place, or somewhere new? What would you want to get out of living in a foreign country?
3. Add some extra flavor to your discussion of Losing the Light by bringing some French wines and perhaps some French cheese and macaroons to share with the group. To complete the evening, put on some Edith Piaf songs to play in the background.
4. The characters in this book have the kinds of intense relationships that come with being young. Did you ever have a friendship like Brooke and Sophie have? The kind that burns bright and flames out? Or a crush like the one Brooke has on Alex that consumes her thoughts? What memories did the book bring up for you?
© Andre Belmont
ANDREA DUNLOP is the social media and marketing director for Girl Friday Productions and lives in Seattle, Washington. Losing the Light is her first novel.
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
authors.simonandschuster.com/Andrea-Dunlop
Facebook.com/AtriaBooks
@AtriaBooks
We hope you enjoyed reading this Washington Square Press eBook.
* * *
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Washington Square Press and Simon & Schuster.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Andrea Dunlop
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Washington Square Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Washington Square Press trade paperback edition February 2016
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information, or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe
Cover Design by Aimée Hunt
Cover Photograph © Richard Taylor/Sopa/Corbis
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dunlop, Andrea.
Losing the Light : a novel / by Andrea Dunlop.—First Washington Square Press Trade Paperback edition.
pages cm
“Washington Square Press Fiction Original Trade.”
1. American students—France—Fiction. 2. Foreign study—France—Fiction. 3. Young women—Sexual behavior—Fiction. 4. Triangles (Interpersonal relations)—Fiction.
PS3604.U5554S65 2015
813'.6—dc23
2014042904
ISBN 978-1-5011-0942-3
ISBN 978-1-5011-0941-6 (ebook)