Discussion

A companion for reflection and conversation about the five lives, forgiveness and responsibility.

1. 1.Which of the five stories most changed your initial judgement of its central character, and why?
2. 2.How do the soldier’s relationship with his daughter and the shepherd’s choice between vengeance and forgiveness illuminate different aspects of forgiveness?
3. 3.How does the Jinn’s relationship with power connect with the story’s treatment of pride, grief and love?
4. 4.What relationship does the boy’s story suggest between money, freedom and fear?
5. 5.How do the woman’s secrecy, control and buried past affect your understanding of responsibility?
6. 6.Which connections between the five lives made you reinterpret an earlier choice or event?
7. 7.How does the spiritual framework affect your judgement of the characters’ freedom and responsibility?
8. 8.Where do your responses to the characters distinguish between understanding an action and excusing it?
9. 9.What does the clock suggest about the relationship between individual choices and humanity’s collective future?
10. 10.Does the novel suggest that redemption depends on forgiveness from others, forgiveness of oneself, changed behaviour, or some combination? Support your interpretation with the story.
11. 11.What question will you carry away from the book?

Individual readers can also use these questions for personal reflection.