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  • Reading Group Questions For Shame and The Captives by Tom Keneally

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    Will keeping the Japanese, Korean and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are? In the spirit of The Daughters Of Mars, Tom Keneally's new novel brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events. In Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community. Alice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice's view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded. But what most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture, entirely perplexing to the inmates' captors. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.

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    Reading Group Questions for Shame and the Captives by Tom Keneally

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    Will keeping the Japanese, Korean and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are? In the spirit of The Daughters Of Mars, Tom Keneally's new novel brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events. In Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community. Alice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice's view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded. But what most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture, entirely perplexing to the inmates' captors. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.

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    428 views2 pages

    Reading Group Questions For Shame and The Captives by Tom Keneally

    Uploaded by

    RandomHouseAU
    Will keeping the Japanese, Korean and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are? In the spirit of The Daughters Of Mars, Tom Keneally's new novel brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events. In Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community. Alice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice's view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded. But what most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture, entirely perplexing to the inmates' captors. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.

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    SHAME AND THE CAPTIVES by Tom Keneally Format: Trade Paperback ISBN: 9780857980991 Imprint: Vintage Australia Released

    1 November 2013

    Reading Group Questions

    What does the title mean? Who are the captives? Why do you think Tom Keneally would choose to tell this story a real event not much explored in Australian non-fiction through the prism of fiction? Are there any heroes in Shame and the Captives? Does a novel benefit from heroes? Is the purpose of historical fiction to reflect on current times? Is Keneally directing us to compare those interned during the Second World War with migrants and asylum seekers from cultures dissimilar to our own who are part of our lives today? From Orange is the New Black to One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Hogans Heroes, the world of entertainment has relied on penitentiaries to provide many stories for us. Why is that? What chance does Alice have of living happily ever after, with Neville, in Gawell?

    Reading Group Questions for Shame and the Captives by Tom Keneally Available in bookshops and ebook retailers 1 November 2013 Shame and the Captives: Print ISBN: 9780857980991 | ebook ISBN: 9780857981011 Imprint: Vintage Australia | Publisher: Random House Australia

    Copyright Tom Keneally 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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