Audiobooks and Book Clubs: Suggested Questions
August 27, 2016
Like book clubs, audiobook clubs offer the all too rare opportunity for socializing and discussing literature with friends. However, listening adds another dimension to a story. Audiobooks have the words and literature to examine and discuss, but also the performance of the reader to consider.
Here is a list to get the discussion started.
Performance:
- How well does the audiobook performer “describe” the different characters through his or her voice (use of accent, tone, rhythm of speech)?
- If the performer is female, how does she act out the dialogue of the male characters (and vice versa)? Is the performance believable or distracting? Are the characters distinguishable?
- Would you have cast some other actor in the production of the audiobook? If so, why?
- How well does the performer capture the author’s narrative voice – that is, the descriptive passages that contain no dialogue and are not attributable to any particular character?
- Was the choice of a male or female actor appropriate to the text?
- Did the narrator do a straight read or create voices for the individual characters? Was the decision effective?
Character:
- How well does the book translate to audio? Is the material better suited to listening or reading?
- Discuss plot and character development.
- Why did the author choose to tell the strory from a particular character’s point of view? Is this point of view limited or omniscient?
- Is the story told via first person or third person or a combination of the two? Is this choice effective? Does it limit, or open up the story?
- What are the audiobook’s peak moments of crisis?
- Talk about the heart of the book and the emotional centers of energy. What does the story mean to you?
- Is the story resolved in a satisfying way?
- Is there one character that anyone loved? Or hated?