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Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

Exit

1. Exit is the story of Ondine Duquesne-Schmidt, a professor of linguistics, settled in her bourgeois Parisian life. Ondine has always dreamed of becoming a writer. She has never fulfilled her dream and a deep feeling of frustration makes her feel that she has failed her life. Unexpectedly, as it often happens in our fragile lives, when a simple glitch is enough and all turns upside down, Ondine’s life collapses. She is diagnosed with leukemia. It is through her illness she finally valiantly fights that she achieves what she has always dreamt about --- being Ondine. Becoming a writer.

2. When Ondine’s life collapses, the readers will be confronted with her quest, with her depression and some fundamental questions about life and death. What does life mean? What does love mean? What does death mean? Ondine will have the courage to affront what seems to be insurmountable. Isn’t life, from its beginning to its end, a challenge? How do we deal with our daily challenge? Does a terminally ill patient having achieved a beyond medical help stage have the right to end his life and choose the time and date of his or her death?

3. The first part, alternating between present and past is a detailed intimate description of her family, her parents and brothers, how she met her husband, and the ensuing enslaving passion she will feel for him, her life as a wife and a mother. The introspection of her life as a wife and mother culminates in her rebellion against everyone and everything. Ondine says about herself: “I’ve become the denial of reason.” In the second part, the tone and rhythm of the book changes, becoming as alert as that of a thriller. All the doors shut down in the first part will open, one by one. The book ends with a twist that will surprise the readers.

4. The book is a mine of information --- the readers will learn about Paris, the city or romance and love, about the events of May 1968 that shook France to its foundations, about the tragedy of the street children in Bucharest, Romania - innocent victims of a communist regime, about the Commune of Paris, an historical event that happened in 1871 and has highly impacted the history, about Lourdes --- the city of miraculous healings, and much more.

Exit
by Liliana Badd

  • Publication Date: July 8, 2010
  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Trafford Publishing
  • ISBN-10: 1426935870
  • ISBN-13: 9781426935879