Reading Group Discussion Questions — City of the Beasts

1. Alexander goes into a destructive rage after witnessing his father chopping off his mother's hair. How does this reaction help the reader understand the pain that he is experiencing? How do his reactions to his mother's illness compare to those of his sisters? 2. Did Allende do a good job making you feel like the story was truly taking place in the Amazon? 3. Describe the relationship between Alexander and his grandmother. How is this relationship different from the typical relationship between a grandmother and her grandson? How does their relationship change? 4. What kind of woman is Kate and what qualities or actions make her seem this way? 5. What do you think about Professor Ludovic Leblanc? Does he have any redeeming qualities? 6. What are totemic animals? Describe the circumstances of how Alexander and Nadia's totemic animals are revealed to them. 7. How do Alexander and Nadia's strengths and weaknesses complement one another? 8. Is this a book for children? What age group is would this book be appropriate for and why? 9. Page 207 talks about the pets the people of the mist have. One is a dog. Yet, it is sad these people try very hard not to get involved with learning new customs page 205. Where did the dog come from? 10. What was your initial reaction to the consuming of the dead chiefs body through broth? Pg 227 11. Is Allende's portrayal of the people of the mist realistic or fanatical and based off stereotype? 12. Which of the two quests would your choice? What could a young reader learn from each of these journeys? 13. How does Dr. Omayra Torres deceive the other members of the group? How are her motives ironic? 14. What is the symbolism of the crystal eggs and the water of health? Why do Nadia and Alexander risk their lives for these things? What do they give up in order to attain them? 15. How does Ludovic Leblanc's public image and reputation contrast with his personal actions? How do his opinions about the Indians and the Beast change as the story evolves? 16. Describe the Beasts. What is unique about them? How do they compare to the image that the members of the expedition had projected? 17. Who are the real beasts in this story? The doctor? Ariostos? Carias?

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Isabel Allende was born in Lima, Peru, and moved to Chile when she was three years old; she comes from a major Chilean political family and identifies herself as a Chilean. Her childhood was spent with her maternal grandparents in Santiago, Chile, following the divorce of her parents. She represents her grandparents as Esteban and Clara Trueba in her best-known novel, The House of the Spirits. Educated partly in England and Europe, Allende returned to Chile in her early twenties to become a journalist and to involve herself in feminism and political causes. She spent the years 1964 through 1974 writing articles and editing journals; she also worked on television shows and film documentaries. Her early experiences before the 1973 military coup in Chile, which changed her life, included editing Paula magazine and conducting interviews for television stations. Allende was married to engineer Miguel Frias in 1962 and was divorced from him in 1987; her two children, Paula and Nicholas, were born of this union. Her daughter Paula’s illness and death, the major tragedy of Allende’s adult life, are recounted in the memoir Paula. In 1988 Allende married William Gordon. The daughter of a cousin of Chilean president Salvador Allende, Isabel Allende has always been preoccupied with Chilean history and politics, particularly the events leading to Salvador’s death during a military coup in 1973 that overthrew his socialist government and led to military commander Augusto Pinochet Ugarte’s dictatorship. Chile’s internal problems have always been a major factor in her works. Allende at first attempted to help the forces attempting to overthrow the new regime, but she was forced to escape with her family to Venezuela in 1974. Following her exile, she lived in various parts of the world and taught in a number of institutions, including in the United States at the University of Virginia, Barnard College, and the University of California at Berkeley. In 2003 she was granted U.S. citizenship and moved to California. She has written about California, too, especially about the points at which its history and myth intersect with those of Spain — her popular 2005 novel Zorro is set in both countries. Principal Works children’s literature (Daughter of Fortune, 1999) Conversations La gorda de porcelana, 1984 Retrato en sepia, 2000 (Portrait with Isabel Allende, 1999 (The Porcelain Fat Lady, 1984) in Sepia, 2001) Mi país inventado, 2003 (My Ciudad de las bestias, 2002 (City Zorro, 2005 (English translation, Invented Country: A Nostalgic of the Beasts, 2002) 2005) Journey Through Chile, 2003) El reino del dragón de oro, 2003 Inés del alma mía, 2006 (Inés of La suma de los días, 2007 (The (Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, My Soul, 2006) Sum of Our Days, 2008) 2004) La isla bajo el mar, 2009 (Island short fiction El bosque de los Pigmeos, 2004 Beneath the Sea, 2010) Cuentos de Eva Luna, 1990 (The (Forest of the Pygmies, 2005) miscellaneous Stories of Eva Luna, 1991) long fiction Afrodita: Cuentos, recetas, y ************************** La casa de los espíritus, 1982 otros afrodisíacos, 1997 Biography and list of novels (The House of the Spirits, 1985) (Aphrodite: A Memoir of the courtesy of Literary Reference De amor y de sombra, 1984 (Of Senses, 1998) Center. Visit Love and Shadows, 1987) nonfiction http://www.ebscohost.com/ for Eva Luna, 1987 (English Civilice a su troglodita: Los more information. translation, 1988) impertinentes de Isabel Allende, El plan infinito, 1991 (The 1974 Infinite Plan, 1993) Paula, 1994 (English translation, Hija de la fortuna, 1999 1995)