Discussion Topics - Rainy Lake

Many readers find it easy to identify with Danny Fillian. One reader wrote: “I felt like I was reading about my own life as a teenager.” Do you identify with Danny as a character, or with her family situation? What is it in the voice that makes you trust Danny as a narrator?

Rainy Lake and its surroundings are vividly described in the novel. One writer said that she left Rainy Lake “with the lingering smell of lake water.” Did the setting contribute to your understanding of the characters or issues in the novel? How might the novel have been different if set elsewhere?

Rockcastle has been chosen to tell this story from Danny’s point of view as an adult looking back on these seven summers. How would the novel have been different if the author had told it from the point of view of the younger Danny?

Race is an underlying issue in the novel. Bryan says, “Most people don’t believe they’re racists, Danny, especially liberals like Dad. It’s easier to spot it in people like Paddy Doonan. The real truth is it’s everywhere—it keeps this country ticking.” How do Charlie Fillian and Paddy Doonan differ on the issue of race? How are they similar?

In the first chapter, Danny says, “I don’t believe things happen without a reason. I think that what is random and accidental converges with the shape of our own characters, the time we live in, and the relationships that guide us.” How does each of the elements alluded to in this statement contribute to this family’s tragedy?

The relationship between Danny and Bryan as sister and brother is strong and complicated. How would the novel have been different if Danny had had a sister instead of a brother? Where else in the novel are you prompted to think about gender, its roles and expectations, in a family, or in society?

The bats are an interesting and curious image in the novel. They appear early on in the family’s story, are driven off by Charlie, and return, in smaller doses, later. Why is Danny so drawn to protect the bats when the others are not? What do you think the bats represent in the world of the novel?