Questions for Book Club:
1. What is the value of combining both photographs and illustrations in the book?
2. How does the book build suspense?
3. Compare to “Long way gone; what is the what?; Five quarters of an Orange; Say your one of them” -- these all take place in zones or times of conflict. – How does a setting of conflict/war affect the narrative and plot of a story?
4. How do recent events in Afghanistan affect your reading of this book?
5. Describe some examples of cultural conflict/misunderstanding that are presented in the book. Who is responsible for this conflict? Could it have been mitigated?
6. Who is the most sympathetic character/group in the book and the most unsympathetic? Why?
7. How would you describe Didier Lefevre?
8. The illustrator states that he was influenced by the Tintin illustrations – could you provide examples of similarities?
9. In this graphic novel what do you think is more important the illustrations/photos or the text? Do you think this is true for all graphic novels?
10. Is a graphic novel – ‘literature’?
11. How does the graphic novel differ in telling a narrative from the novel/biography?
12. Could this book be described as an example of “Quest narrative”?
13. How is masculinity portrayed in the book? Femininity?
14. Do you feel this is a positive or negative portrayal of MSF?
15. Describe what you felt were the best examples in the book of
• Ego
• Compassion
