Reading Group Guide

1.   Of the five main characters in Rock Bottom, which one did you find the most compelling, and why? Which character did you find the most humorous?

2.   Amsterdam plays an important role in the novel. Discuss the ways in which the city influences the actions of each band member.

3.   Rock Bottom is a no- bruises- spared portrayal of the rock-and-roll world. In your opinion, which band member gains the most from the difficult experience the band endures?

4.   What do you think of the “friendship” between the band members?

Which characters did you feel were really friends at the beginning of Rock Bottom? Did that change in the course of the novel?

5.   What is the importance of Joey in the story of Blood Orphans?

What does she ultimately learn from her experience as manager of the band?

6.   Discuss the idea of forgiveness in Rock Bottom. How important is forgiveness to the members of Blood Orphans?

7.   Darlo starts off as a truly vile character, yet as the novel progresses he is forced to confront much of his past behavior. Does he eventually find a conscience?

8.   The love story between Joey and Darlo is, to say the least, a fairly unconventional romance. In what ways does their relationship impact the lives of the other band members?

Suggestions for further reading

Some of Michael Shilling’s favorite books:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

The White Album by Joan Didion

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

A Public Burning by Robert Coover

The Palm at the End of the Mind by Wallace Stevens

Bear and His Daughter by Robert Stone

Frank Zappa’s Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play by Ben Watson

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford

Money by Martin Amis

The Production of Space by Henri Lefebvre

Self- Help by Lorrie Moore

Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor

The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Libra by Don Delillo

To Bedlam and Part Way Back by Anne Sexton

Mystery Train by Greil Marcus

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

The Medium Is the Message by Marshall McLuhan

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburo Oe

Chasing the Sea by Tom Bissell

Lord Weary’s Castle by Robert Lowell

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

The Wind- Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Rubicon Beach by Steve Erickson

Budding Prospects by T. C. Boyle

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer