New book: Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Reading Group Guide
Questions for Discussion
1. Everyone has been exposed to Vampire lore, either through books, movies, or television. How does Jody's transformation into a vampire differ from how you always thought someone became a vampire? In what ways is it similar?
2. Jody and Tommy's relationship moves at a rather alarming pace, and within a week of meeting each other, they are in love. Is love at first sight possible? Or in their case, at first bite? Why do they connect so instantly?
3. The book is filled with religious connotations, whether intentional or not — from the mention of "the pyramid" (The TransAmerica Tower), to the use of crosses to ward off vampires, to the Animals being referred to as "Crusaders." How intentional do you think this was on the part of the author? What do these add to the story?
4. The book touches upon the idea of euthanasia — the practice of ending the life of a terminally ill person in a painless or minimally painful way in order to limit suffering — in that Elijah Ben Sapir, the vampire who creates Jody, only kills those who are about to die or whose lives are limited in some way. What are your feelings about "mercy killings"? Do vampires have an ethical standard?
5. When Simon threatens Jody after she refuses to turn him into a vampire, she ends up killing him in the front of his truck. Jody then blames the killing on Elijah, however, and never confesses it to Tommy. Why not admit to it when Elijah has been restrained?
6. Why are Jody and Tommy "set up" as the culprits in the recent crimes? What would it mean if they were caught? Why do these crimes need to be pinned on anyone? Couldn't the criminals cover up thecrimes in another way?
7. By the end of the novel, both detectives — Cavuto and Rivera — begin to believe in the supernatural and that vampires could exist. To what extent do you believe in the supernatural, either vampires, ghosts, or even just that some people may or may not have psychic ability?
8. Tommy uses Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat, which of course is fiction, as his "Owner's Manual" for learning about Jody and her new powers. Discuss the author's use of fiction within fiction in order to tell a story. Have any members of your group read The Vampire Lestat? How do the two books compare?
9. Once Jody becomes a vampire, she finds that she has many new and different abilities, including superstrength, heightened senses, and superspeed. Which do you think is her most needed new superability?
10. Though Jody finds herself immortal, she also retains many of her normal human characteristics and failings, including vanity, fear, anger, and disgust. Discuss how even though she has become immortal, and can protect herself from many of the regular dangers of everyday life, she is still unable to disassociate herself from normal human emotion.
11. At the end of the book, the reader is left with the impression that Jody is about to turn Tommy into a vampire. If she does change him into a vampire, how do you imagine their story continues? How would it continue if she does not?
Enhancing Your Bookclub
1. Would you be willing to give up your normal life — being able to go out in the daylight, not being immortal — in order to become a vampire? You'd be able to live forever, have superstrength and -speed, among many other different gifts. Would it be worth it? Why? Why not?
2. To read more about vampires, take a look at the following titles: The Society of S by Susan Hubbard, Vamped by David Sosnowski, The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula by Tim Lucas, and Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Costa.
3. Learn more about vampires: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampires.
Christopher Moore is the bestselling author of You Suck, A Dirty Job, The Stupidest Angel, Fluke, Lamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Bloodsucking Fiends, and Practical Demonkeeping. Visit the
official Christopher Moore website at www.chrismoore.com.
3. If Christopher Moore can be characterized as anything as a writer, it is intentional. Every moment of comedy, and certainly every moment of allusion, was carefully constructed by Moore to serve a specific purpose. That holds true to for the religious elements that Moore incorporates to play on the connotations of vampires in many religions throughout the world. By enacting this layer of religious parody, Moore is able to hit home with the reader about all the vampire mythology that they had been exposed to previous to reading Bloodsucking Fiends.
ReplyDelete4. I believe completely in the idea of euthanasia or assisted suicide. I believe that a person who is in critical condition has the right to chose their own death and has the right to achieve their death in a way if medically safe and harmless. However, when vampires are enacted in the process, it takes away some of the elements of choice and painlessness which make euthanasia of the critically ill so appealing to me are eliminated. Assuming we are talking about vampires as they are characterized by Christopher Moore in Bloodsucking Fiends, there is no way to know how much control vampires have over checking if their victims have consented to have their blood sucked dry or making sure their experience is painless. Maybe if the vampires were doctors of nurses or were given training by hospitals to assist people dying it would work out, but I don't think that domesticating vampires as mercy killing machines is a realistic option. And who would chose having their blood sucked to death over a couple of pills or an IV injection anyway?
7. I don't think I would believe in supernatural beings under any context. Even in a situation like the book, where vampires are the correct conclusion, I don't think that I would be able to alter my beliefs so drastically just to fit the circumstances.
5. When Simon threatens Jody after she refuses to turn him into a vampire, she ends up killing him in the front of his truck. Jody then blames the killing on Elijah, however, and never confesses it to Tommy. Why not admit to it when Elijah has been restrained?
ReplyDeleteWell, Jody really doesn’t have an opportunity to tell Tommy until the (Happy) end of the book, so it’s possible she confessed but it wouldn’t really have a place within the frame of the story. However, I will entertain the possibility that she never did tell him later. Perhaps she didn’t really feel guilty because in his last moments he threatened to kill and rape her, or because he was going to die anyway, or she just wasn’t that close to him for her to care about it (other than the effects it has on Tommy.
7. By the end of the novel, both detectives — Cavuto and Rivera — begin to believe in the supernatural and that vampires could exist. To what extent do you believe in the supernatural, either vampires, ghosts, or even just that some people may or may not have psychic ability?
None, whatsoever. If there’s no scientific basis or explanation then all “powers” are dismissible. Though Cavuto and Rivera had a lot of evidence that pointed towards the existence of a “vampire”, or something like one, and by the end even directly encountered Elijah, so their belief is reasonable.
11. At the end of the book, the reader is left with the impression that Jody is about to turn Tommy into a vampire. If she does change him into a vampire, how do you imagine their story continues? How would it continue if she does not?
If she changes him into a vampire then they could live together for a very long time, likely in seclusion, and with both of them having powers they could avoid a lot of problems normal humans face (They basically only require shelter, human blood isn’t an essential and they can’t starve to death either). However, it would come with the consequence of not being able to live a normal life (As Tommy won’t be able to run day-errands, and both of them being out of commission could highly increase their chances of being discovered). Furthermore, their love may start to dwindle over the course of hundreds of years, so keeping Tommy mortal might be the thing that keeps them together.
4) I don't know a lot about medicine or euthanasia, so my opinion isn't very important. I do think there might be circumstances where it may be okay, but I don't know enough to judge what those circumstances are. I think as a creature, vampires are pretty unethical. I don't really think Jody's criteria for a victim justifies it. The only time I might think she's okay if she was a vigilante vampire, and she only targeted rapists and murderers and people like that. I think she's still murdering people, she's just making stuff up to justify it to herself. It's not euthanasia; it's not her decision to make whether this person's life is worth anything or not.
ReplyDelete7) I don't think there's anything that's just magic. I don't think anybody's psychic or that anybody really sees ghosts. People who say they're psychic might even believe it themselves, but I don't think they are. Whenever people who say they're psychics are tested under controlled conditions, they are always proven wrong. And whenever somebody thinks they found a ghost, their whole argument is: "I went to a spooky place, and I think I saw something, and I didn't know what it was." I think there's nothing wrong with having supernatural things in fiction, but they are just fiction.
11) I think that if Tommy were turned to a vampire, he could be with Jody for a lot longer. However, I also think that given enough time, they would change enough to not fit together anymore. If Tommy remained human; then their relationship would get weird. Tommy would age, and Jody wouldn't. Either their differences would get between them, or Tommy would die. It may sound cynical, but I don't mean to be. I totally believe people can have amazing relationships, but when you throw the concept of infinity into the mix, things change. With the way peoples minds work, they just can't be together literally forever, or if just one is immortal, it's unavoidable that the mortal would die. I do like to be optimistic, but people aren't made to handle infinity.
2) If love at first sight is possible, this book isn't supporting evidence. Rapidly evolving love is a plot element here, and doesn't necessarily reflect real life. Jody and Tommy connect so instantly partly because they are, in a way, looking for each other. Jody, as a fledgling vampire, needs someone like Tommy to tend to her needs during the day, when she is weak. Tommy is looking for a woman that he can easily please by carrying out various tasks, rather than by putting forth more effort to establish a deep psychological bond.
ReplyDelete3) I'm sure these references were completely intentional. I think Moore makes these references because vampires are based in historical mythology, so it makes sense to make more connections between history and the setting of the story.
7) I don't believe in supernatural things like vampires and ghosts, although both would make the world more interesting, but the closest thing to "supernatural" that I believe is that people have varying levels of extrasensory perception. A lot of people, including myself, have stories of being able to predict the future (on a very small scale), especially as children. Perhaps a lot of these instances are just us subconsciously making connections based on physical observation, but I don't think all of them are.
1 & 10. I like Jody's character because she brings such humanistic characteristics to being immortal. Sometimes the fact that a person has changed and become this creature is overdone to the point where they are no longer themselves, often times being depicted as monsters or even their features being so drastically changed... But Jody, although given more abilities, has not changed entirely. She becomes physically stronger but she still deals with emotional conflicts and this makes her character relatable. I think its hard to find the balance between making a vampire character that still has that immortal evil creature vibe along with a sense of humanity, but modern movies and tv shows are starting to humanize vampire characters more and more. I like The VAmpire Diaries for that reason, they have this blend of humanistic characteristics along with these animalistic features that make them so perfect.
ReplyDelete4. I believe in the idea of euthanasia. If someone is terminally ill or on the verge of death, its their life. They should rightfully be allowed to choose whether or not they desire to continue living this way. When it comes to the vampires take on it though, I can't be sure because how "painless" is it and have these people consented 100% to having their blood completely sucked out of them? It's hard to say, despite some underlying element of an ethical standard, I couldn't be too sure.
1. Would you be willing to give up your normal life — being able to go out in the daylight, not being immortal — in order to become a vampire? You'd be able to live forever, have superstrength and -speed, among many other different gifts. Would it be worth it? Why? Why not?
I say I would but if it ever came down to it i'm not sure... I'd still say yes because who wouldn't want to live forever, be in their prime forever and continue to experience the world as it changes but you remain the same (physically).
1. Jody's transformation matched my idea of how people changed into vampires. She was bitten and then had to drink the vampire's blood so that his blood would be in her system and then would turn. It also was similar to what I thought in that they had to sleep while the transformation happened or at least were unconscious. The only thing that was different was that Jody didn't have to go on a complete killing spree immediately after waking up.
ReplyDelete2. They connect so instantly because they both need someone and they found each other relatively attractive. I wouldn't call it love, exactly. I think they care for each other a great deal, but mostly it is just because of the circumstances. I don't know, maybe that's all love is, sex and circumstances. It just doesn't seem like honest love to me.
7. I would love for there to be supernatural creatures and stuff, but for the most part I don't believe they exist. I don't think anyone has psychic powers and I don't think creatures like vampires or ghouls or werewolves or zombies really exist, but I do believe in ghosts.