Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Indie Next List.



THE REINCARNATIONIST



Reading Group Guide:
  1. Before reading The Reincarnationist, what did you know about pagan religions? Did the book shed any light on early religion for you and make it easier to understand how some superstitions came to be?

  2. Josh Ryder is skeptical about reincarnation when this book begins. At what point does he start to believe? Or does he? Did your journey with the concept of reincarnation coincide with Josh's in any way?

  3. Have you ever experienced déjà vu? Is this evidence for reincarnation or just an act of the imagination?

  4. Josh is a photojournalist by trade; how does his occupation play to the themes of the novel?

  5. What makes reincarnation such an attractive notion to so many people? How do its operations interact with your other belief systems?

  6. The Reincarnationist pays a lot of attention to art, in curation and in auction, how did those aspects of the novel enhance the story?

  7. In this book, memory stones hold the key to past life regressions. What other tools or circumstances are possible catalysts for such events?

  8. It's rare for a book of fiction to contain a bibliography at the end. What do you think of all the research that's been accumulated concerning reincarnation? What do you make of the fact that most past-life memories come from young children?

  9. Some readers have found the ending of this book very controversial. Not many novels end with a denouement of this kind. However, some say that there could not have been any other ending-what do you think?

  10. What do you think the ultimate message of the book is? Is it a positive, hopeful one?