General Questions: Which book or books did you read? Did you like or dislike what you read? What are your initial impressions of the book(s)?

Discussion Questions for STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS (Nonfiction selection)

1. In the Introduction, the author separates cadavers and dead bodies from the concept of a living person. How do you feel about this separation? Are a dead body and a living body different ethically?

2. Some chapters seemed more "icky" than others, in terms of subject matter. Did you skip any chapters, or browse only, due to subject matter? Which ones?

3. Did you find the author's dry humor helpful or disturbing during your reading?

4. Were you surprised to learn that cadavers are used in so many different areas and kinds of research? How do you feel about that? Which area of research surprised you the most?

5. The author talked about objectification of human corpses. Do you think most people who work with or around corpses objectify them? If you work with mice, rats, or other living organisms in your research, do you objectify them?

6. Before each chapter, Roach includes a photo that represents the content of the following chapter in some way. What did you think of the inclusion of these photos?

7. At the end of the book, Roach discusses the process she has gone through to decide whether or not to donate her body. What did you think of her including this personal touch?

8. Did reading this book affect your own plans for burial?

Discussion Questions for THE BONE GARDEN (Fiction selection)

1. Were you confused by the switching of time periods from the 1830s to the present? Which time period did you prefer reading about?

2. Did you solve the mystery of the West End Reaper? What clues helped you to reach a solution?

3. What did you think of the ending?

4. Compare the scenes of anatomy class in 1830 with those of the present day.

5. Were you aware that childbed fever was such a problem in the 1830s? What led to solving the mystery?

6. The author tells the story through letters found by Julia and Henry in the present. Did you like this format? Did you lose sight of the fact that Julia's original goal was to figure out whose skeletal remains were buried in her backyard?

7. Throughout this book, there appears to be tension between different levels of society and wealth (ex: The author continuously brought up that Norris was a farm boy, while the other medical students came from wealthy families). How do these societal differences impact the characters and events in the book?

8. A lack of standards for medical school in the 1830s led to an increase in the number of medical students. This in turn made the shortage of bodies an even larger problem. How did this impact society and lead to an increase in gravediggers?

9. What, if anything, do you think was being done to stop or prevent the gravediggers and the "body" black market?

Created April 2009