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A Reader's Guide River Thieves by Michael Crummey • Questions for Discussion • About the Author • A Conversation with Michael Crummey Questions for Discussion We hope the following questions will stimulate discussion for reading groups and provide a deeper understanding of River Thieves for every reader. 1. Michael Crummey claims that River Thieves is a "book about regret." What regrets motivate the main characters in the novel? How does regret inform the novel as a whole? 2. Crummey has said he thinks of the physical landscape of Newfoundland as one of the central characters in River Thieves. In what ways is this true? How does the character of the physical environment have an impact on the human characters in the novel? 3. Crummey's poetic prose often contrasts with the gritty events and harsh settings it serves to depict. What is the relation between action and tone in the novel? How does the language affect the impact the story has? 4. In River Thieves, the characters' relationships with their fathers are important in shaping the way they interact with the world and with others. How does John Peyton's relationship with his father affect the way he views and interacts with the world? How do you suppose John Senior's tumultuous, often violent relationship with his own father shaped his relationship with his son? 5. Crummey presents John Senior primarily through the eyes of others, particularly John Peyton, and penetrates only briefly into the man's own mind. How does John Senior's perception of himself differ from the way others perceive him? In particular, how does John Senior's perception of himself as a father differ from his son's view of him? www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com 1 of 6 Copyright © 2003 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved. 6. At the opening of the novel, Peyton seems to be on a quest to prove his manhood and his worth. What are his motivations? Do his aims change as the novel progresses? 7. Cassie Jure is able to take care of herself and seems to prefer to do so; she maintains a certain distance between herself and others, absorbs herself in her books, and is constantly "fighting to keep herself free and clear" (p. 316). What do you think are her reasons for acting in such a manner? What experiences in her life have led her to be so self-reliant? 8. In what ways does Cassie break with her usual behavior in her interactions with Captain David Buchan? Why? Does her view of the nature of their relationship differ from Buchan's? 9. When Cassie interrupts an argument between Peyton and John Senior by touching both men on the shoulder, Peyton finds it disturbing that "Cassie's touch obliquely [connects] him and his father that way" and wonders whether he is "the only one of the three of them to be bothered by it" (p. 115). What are the sources of such tension in the Peyton household? How does Cassie's presence affect the relationship between father and son? 10. Before making the decision to come to Newfoundland, Peyton is caught between the wishes of his father and those of his mother. When John Senior asks him to make a definitive decision, Peyton says he wants to go, knowing all the while that "he would have said just the opposite if his mother had asked him the same question first" (p. 67). Does Peyton eventually emerge from this submissiveness, or does he remain, as Buchan claims, "under the influence of J. Peyton Sr." in all things (p. 285)? 11. The names and naming of places serve as important themes throughout the novel. As the Buchan expedition progresses up the river toward the Beothuk camp, the settlers "drop names behind themselves like stones set to mark the path out of wilderness" (p. 98). What are the settlers' attitudes toward the process of naming? What significance does Crummey give to it, and to names in general? 12. In discussing his inspiration for the novel, Crummey says that he "was surprised by the different attitudes father and son displayed towards the Beothuk" and "began writing a story that might account for some of those differences." What precisely are the different attitudes that John Peyton and John Senior display toward the Beothuk? What can you gather from the story that elucidates their viewpoints? Does the attitude of either change, and if so, how? 13. Misunderstanding plays a large role in the interactions between the settlers and also in their attempts to communicate with the Beothuk. What are the major misunderstandings and misconceptions in the novel? What are their consequences? 14. Crummey says that the absence of a clear voice or portrait of the Beothuk Indians in River Thieves is due to their absence from the historical record. How is the Beothuk's absence, as Crummey puts it, "the point"? How does it affect the experience of reading the novel? How does it affect your perception of the settlers to know that their actions, intentionally or not, are contributing to the Beothuk's extinction? 15. The major crack in John Senior's hard surface is that he is constantly plagued by nightmares. Some details of his nighttime horrors gradually come to light, and nightmares, which trouble several characters, remain an important theme. What do you think leads these men to have such nightmares? What is Crummey getting at by making them a steady www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com 2 of 6 Copyright © 2003 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved. presence in the story? 16. While Reilly is the only true pickpocket in River Thieves, the theme of thievery is present throughout the novel. In one way or another, both the European settlers and the Beothuk themselves assume the role of thieves. What acts of thievery are committed? Why, and what are their consequences? 17. The governor's mansion in River Thieves is in a state of disrepair: "For years there had been attempts to locate and fix the leaks in the slate roof, all without any significant degree of success" (p. 301). Crummey compares this "irreparable damage" (p. 301) to Buchan's struggles in his investigation. How are the relationships between the characters and cultures in the novel similarly marred by irreparable damage? Was there a point at which things could have been set right? 18. Both Cassie and Peyton assume a certain amount of responsibility for Mary. What characterizes the relationships of each with her? How do they view and interact with her differently? About the Author Michael Crummey is the author of three books of poetry — Arguments with Gravity, Hard Light, Emergency Roadside Assistance — and a collection of short stories, Flesh and Blood. He is a winner of the Bronwen Wallace Award and was nominated for the 1998 Journey Prize. In 2001, River Thieves was nominated for the prestigious Giller Prize. Born in Buchans, Newfoundland, Michael Crummey grew up there and in Wabush, Labrador. He now lives in St. John's. A Conversation with Michael Crummey Q) Can you tell us how you became a writer? A) I don't know if it's appropriate to phrase that question in the past tense. It implies I've arrived somewhere, when my sense of it is that I'm still working away in the dark. Hoping to be a writer every time I sit down to write. I started seriously writing poems in my first year of university, which was a surprise to me at the time. I don't remember having any desire to be a writer in high school. For some inscrutable reason, studying poetry in English 1000 triggered a compulsion to write poems myself. I wanted to write something that would make a reader respond in the way I was responding to writers like Sylvia Plath, Leonard Cohen, Ted Hughes, e. e. cummings, Al Purdy. Everything I wrote in those first few years was monumentally bad. Sometimes I think all that's different now is that the law of averages is working in my favor. Write enough poetry and eventually some of it won't suck. After I dropped out of university, I worked at a number of part-time jobs and wrote in my free time. Began publishing in little magazines and journals across the country. I didn't start www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com 3 of 6 Copyright © 2003 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved. writing fiction until my mid-twenties, years after I took up poetry. I wrote short stories for eight or nine years before I finally decided to make an attempt at a novel. Thought I was ready for it, after a long apprenticeship — something close to a real writer finally. That turned out to be a complete misunderstanding of where things stood. I don't think I've ever felt as overmatched as I did when I was working on River Thieves. It seems a bit of a fluke to have finished it. From talking to other writers, I don't expect to feel differently the next time out either. Q) What inspired you to write this particular book? Is there a story about the writing of this novel that begs to be told? A) I grew up in Buchans, a small mining town near Red Indian Lake in central Newfoundland. Many of the pivotal events that shaped relations between the Beothuk Indians and European settlers (including the kidnapping of Mary March and the murder of her husband in 1819) took place on that lake. Some sense of those stories has been a part of my life as long as I can remember, and I expect that the same is true to a greater or lesser degree for most Newfoundlanders.

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