Reading Group Guide

These discussion questions are designed to enhance your group’s conversation about The Gamal.

About the book

Charlie has always been, as his father says, a man apart. The only people who ever really accepted him were his friends Sinéad and James, who saw a life for him beyond the restrictive judgments of their home, Ballyronan. When Sinéad and James die, Charlie is left utterly alone and unable to function in day-to-day life. He can’t sleep, he suffers from severe headaches, and he rarely leaves his house. His psychiatrist, Dr. Quinn, suggests he write his story down, as a means of processing his grief, and it is through this exercise that The Gamal comes to life.

The Gamal is set in an Ireland deﬁned by its national pride, a place where ﬁtting in and maintaining the status quo is akin to patriotism. The story that Charlie shares in these pages is about three people who break the mold: Sinéad, James, and Charlie himself. Each in their own way, they challenge the world around them, suggesting that it is inadequate. It is through that inadvertent deﬁance that they strike fear and distrust in their peers and elders, eventually bringing great tragedy to them all. But as Charlie shares their story, we see them as more than their horriﬁc and untimely deaths: we see the joy and beauty they brought to those who opened their hearts to them, the power they wielded by daring to devote their lives to their love for each other.

For discussion

1 Charlie tells his readers early on that they won’t like him. Do you like Charlie? Why do you think that he’s so sure that you won’t?

2 Charlie hates descriptive writing, and when he tries to write his own descriptions, he becomes very self-critical. Why do you think that kind of writing is so troublesome to him? Why is he so biased toward unadorned, fact-based writing?

3 How do James and Sinéad take care of Charlie? How does he take care of them? How would you characterize his relationship with them?

4 On page 222, Charlie writes, “Sound was freedom. Sound was everything.” Did music free Sinéad and James? Did it free Charlie? How was music a catalyst for the tragedies of the novel?

5 Fitting in with the group is a central theme in The Gamal. How does that play out on the different societal levels portrayed here? Compare the sense of national pride with the sense of familial—or clan—pride. How do they differ? Does belonging to any of these groups make people happy?

6 Charlie is ﬁxated on the idea of madness. Throughout the book he has several different theories on what madness is, and why we, as a society, label certain people as mad. What do you think of his ideas? Do any of them resonate with you?

7 How would this novel be different if it had an omniscient narrator or if it shifted narration between characters? What does Charlie’s perspective add to your understanding of the story? Does it detract from your understanding at all?

8 The idea of the outsider is a common theme in some of our greatest literature. Why do you think this is so?

9 In his play The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams writes, “The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music.” How does this relate to The Gamal? How does the aspect of memory affect the story, especially taking into account Charlie’s almost supernatural auditory memory? How do music and memory connect in the book?

10 Religion plays a big role in Irish society. Where do you see religious imagery in The Gamal? How do you feel about the portrayal of the martyr in the novel?

11 Sinéad was a light in the darkness for Charlie. How does he carry that light with him at the end of the book?

12 Based on what you’ve seen in The Gamal, how do the Irish honor their history? What aspects of contemporary society seem to stem from historical conﬂicts with the English?

13 How are women portrayed in this novel? Based on what you see in this book, what roles do women play in Irish society?

14 At the end of the novel, the state’s lawyer suggests that Dinky is a sociopath. Do you agree with his assessment? Why or why not? If not, what motivated his actions?

15 Snoozie’s character—and to some extent, Charlie’s, as well— both deal with guilt due to complacency. Do you think this is justiﬁed? If so, do they atone for their inaction?

16 What message are you left with at the end of this book? Is it a hopeful ending? Why or why not? Was, as the state’s lawyer so badly wanted, justice achieved?