Book Clubs
Miracle on the Hudson is a group memoir by many of the survivors from the Hudson River plane crash of January 15, 2009. For readers of true adventure tales, it is an oral history of that amazing day, a unique and extraordinary story that these voices bring it to life like no other book can.
While fiction has long been the most popular genre with reading groups, works of nonfiction can bring quite a different set of objectives and intellectual experiences to the group and spark lively discussions as well. Memoirs are perhaps the most commonly read works of nonfiction. And they are undoubtedly some of the most popular choices among reading groups today. Sometimes harrowing and heartbreaking but always enlightening, these are books that lend themselves to great discussion on a variety of topics.
Discussion Resources for Miracle on the Hudson:
- What is most compelling about memoirs as a genre of nonfiction? Are true-life stories potentially more powerful than fictional ones? Why or why not?
- How are the choices a writer makes in writing autobiography different from those made in writing fiction? How important to the reading experience is the idea that this really happened?
- Consider the structure of the book. What is emphasized? What is left out? How is the passage of time presented? What is the relationship between the past and the present?
- What is the role of fate in this story?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of writers sharing an intimate view of their lives with the general public?
- How is the book organized? Is it chronological, thematic, topical, or arranged in some other format? Are there parts you wish had been developed further or more clearly?
- How does the book change the way you think about the events of January 15th, 2009? Does it give you new perspective?
- What is the story’s impact on you? How does the memoir you have just read change the way you think about your own life story?
- What is original about this book? How does it distinguish itself from other books you have read?
- How do you think the co-authors were changed by the experience of writing the book?
