Discussion Questions for Shame

1. John Tilden is the main character and the narrator of Shame. How does it affect our experience for him to tell his own story?

2. Several chapters at the beginning, middle, and end of the novel highlight John’s strange journey, symbolized by his time on the tractor, moving but never getting anywhere. In what ways can we see that John is on a journey even though he never leaves town?

3. Why is the novel called Shame?

4. How does the major setting of the novel affect the action? The characterization? Would this story feel different in an urban setting?

5. Why does John still feel so affected by the past? How does this shape his present and future?

6. John says that he truly wants to be a good person. What are his best qualities? What are his worst?

7. Dreams are important in the novel. How do they reveal John’s inner conflicts? How do they reveal things about John and his history we might not otherwise know?

8. The device of using letters in a novel has been used since the first epistolary novels hundreds of years ago. How does the author employ them in this book?

9. In what ways does the setting (the early 1990s) seem alien to us as readers? What technological advances and other changes have altered the way we live in the years since the 1990s?

10. How does the author use music, television shows, and other popular culture artifacts to help tell the story?

11. John says he feels that he may be experiencing more than a simple midlife crisis—that what he’s undergoing is also a crisis of faith. Is this true? How does John change spiritually as a result of the events of this story?

12. Fatherhood is a central theme in the novel. Judging from the relationships we see in the book, what does it mean to be a father? More broadly, what does good parenting look like?

13. How is friendship an important theme in the novel? Which characters prove to be true friends to each other?

14. Who are John’s heroes or role models? What do these choices tell us about him?

15. What do you consider the most important themes in Shame? What does the book seem to say about them? What did you carry away from your reading of the novel?