Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. Alexi Zentner describes Touch as "mythical realism." How does this differ from the magical realism practiced by writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez? How do myths and reality coexist in the world of Touch?
2. From the opening scene, it is clear that the snow and ice of Sawgamet can be dangerous. But are they always bad? What are the roles that snow plays in Touch?
3. Though he is a priest, Stephen admits that he thinks of his father and grandfather "as gods themselves." Do you see them as gods as well, or are they men? Why do you think Stephen feels this way?
4. Stephen, his grandfather, and his stepfather all attended seminary; Stephen and Father Earl are both Anglican priests. What role does faith play in the novel?
5. Stephen worries about how to show his daughters that although Father Earl "did not settle the land, did not work the cuts or run the river, he was, nevertheless, very much part of [Stephen’s] own story." How do the people of the town and the people of the woods and the cuts play off one another in Touch? Is one area more important to the story?
6. Most of the characters in the book engage in storytelling. Why do you think this is? What does Stephen hope to leave to his daughters by telling them these stories?
7. Jeannot speaks of showing the light to his family when he returns to Sawgamet. How is this light related to the lights characters such as Father Earl leave in their windows during the blizzards? How else does light appear in the novel?
8. Jeannot carries the bones of the man he killed with him; Stephen carries his shattered ax blade. How do the things they carry affect these characters?
9. Stephen has returned to Sawgamet many years after most of the events in the book take place. How is Stephen’s return similar to Jeannot’s? How has Sawgamet changed in the years since each of the characters first left?
10. Touch is structured as a series of stories passed from father to son. Yet the book is set on the eve of a mother’s death, and Stephen himself has only daughters. What role do the female characters play in this novel?
11. At the end of the novel, Stephen reflects that, unlike his grandfather, he is “the sort of man who always looks back.” What are the different ways that characters might look back in the novel? How are the men who look back different from the men who do not?