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Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

The Well of Lost Plots

1. Do you think the UltraWord™ plot is a parable about television's effect on the imagination? What similarities or differences do the two have?

2. Who is the Great Panjandrum? What is her role in the book world?

3. Miss Havisham gives Thursday a piece of the "Last Original Idea . . . a small shard from when the whole was cleaved in 1884." Do you think the last original idea has been thought and dispersed already? Why or why not?

4. The Jurisfiction characters argue about the "basic eight-plot architecture we inherited from OralTrad." Do you think it's true that "No one will ever need more than eight plots?" If Coming of Age, Bitter Rivalry/Revenge, and Journey of Discovery are part of the eight-plot architecture, what do you think the remaining five plots are? Which would The Well of Lost Plots come under?

5. Thursday sees her worst nightmare when she gazes in the mirror that Aornis holds up to her in her dreams, but it is not the memory of her brother Anton's death. What is it that Thursday sees in the mirror? What images might you see in the mirror? What is the significance of the "lighthouse" at the edge of her mind?

6. Thursday tells Lola, "some would say that the hero of any story is the one who changes the most." If this is true, who would you say are the heroes of this series?

7. When Snell tells Thursday that Landen can be written into fictional existence so they can live together in the book world, Thursday replies that she wants the real Landen or none at all. Are memory and imagination powerful enough to sustain a real person? If everything in the book world seems real enough, why would Thursday not choose the written Landen? Would you revive people you have lost in your life if you could? Why or why not?

The Well of Lost Plots
by Jasper Fforde

  • Publication Date: July 24, 2004
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 375 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
  • ISBN-10: 0143034359
  • ISBN-13: 9780143034353