Karen Salyer McElmurray | Author
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. The story unfolds in eastern Kentucky, an area very familiar to McElmurray having grown up there and attended Berea College. How important is a strong sense place to this novel and in other novels you've read? How do you define "sense of place." What do you feel are the universal themes explored in this novel and discuss the balance between connection to specific place and the universality of themes in a novel?
2. Do you most relate to and/or identify with Ruth, Earl, or Andrew? Why? Who was your favorite character? Why? Who do you consider to be the central character to the story? Discuss the degree to which their lives are interdependent upon each other in healthy and unhealthy ways.
3. Discuss Ruth's religious beliefs and relationship with God, and how it affects her relationship with her family? How do our religious convictions intersect and influence our own relationships with family and friends?
4. Andrew struggles immensely with his homosexuality. How do you feel about this element of the story relative to his religious upbringing, his parents, and the part of the country where he grew up? Did you find his story compelling and were your sympathetic to his struggle?
5. Is Earl wrong for sacrificing his love of music to the upkeep of a broken family, or does he have a choice in the matter? What is more important in life: duty or passion? Can both be balanced in life?
6. Would you consider the Wallen family "dysfunctional" or "broken"? Are these phrases overused today and what do they really mean to you?
7. Did you find the rotating change of perspective disorienting or effective, or both? Discuss McElmurray's use of flashbacks as a writing device.
8. Dreams are a recurrent theme in this novel. How do you feel about McElmurray's use of dreams in telling the story? How central are dreams to the underlying meaning of the story?
9. McElmurray's use of language is rich. Discuss your view of her lush imagery and evocative language. In many ways this would be considered a very "interior" story where much of the telling is reflective takes place within people's minds, rather than through dialogue and action. Discuss the balance and mixing of plot, interior dialogue, and the use of language.
10. Why do you think McElmurray chose the title Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven and what do you are the points of reference for "strange birds" and "tree of heaven"?
11. The jacket copy calls Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven a novel of redemption. Do you agree? How did you feel when you finished the novel?