Zoë Nielsen was just like any other ten-year-old walking to school, not knowing that a chance encounter with Thurman Hayes would lead to her abduction and imprisonment in a converted nuclear bunker, 4,000 miles away, beneath a remote ranch house in Arizona. Enslaved in her underground tomb, deprived of food and light and water, the girl Zoë once was steadily begins to disappear… But over time Thurman grows tired of the rapidly maturing Zoë, and when he decides it is time to get rid of her, Zoë must finally make her bid for freedom.
Forgetting Zoë is a moving, epic tale of courage, survival, horror and loss, that explores how a bond of affection and intimacy can develop between captive and captor.
Kick of the discussion of this brilliant and thought provoking book with the discussion points below.
1. Who is your favourite Forgetting Zoë character? It doesn’t have to be the one you ‘like’ best in terms of personality. For example, as much as you may hate Thurman as a person, and the things that he does, but you may like the way he is drawn, the details of his speech or idiosyncrasies and mannerisms.
2. Why do you think Robinson chose to tell the story of Forgetting Zoë in the third person and to explore the lives of three protagonists - Zoë, Thurman, and Ingrid - rather than just focusing on Zoë’s story? Do you think the novel would have worked as well, or better, narrated by Zoë in the first person? If so, why?
3. What are some of the ways in which Zoë’s development has been stunted by growing up as Thurman’s captive? Describe the dynamic between Zoë and Thurman. Did Zoë and Thurman’s relationship feel credible to you?
4. How would you describe Ingrid? Did you warm towards her as a character, or find her cold and distant? Did her suicide feel credible?
5. The various types of power dynamics between the sexes - Thurman and his parents; Zoë and Ingrid; Zoë and Thurman; Ingrid and Jon; Zoë and Red Bess and Bob - are at the core of Forgetting Zoë. Describe and discuss some of the important relationships in the book.
6. What conclusions can you draw about Thurman’s ideas regarding sex and power?
7. In Forgetting Zoë the novel’s wild landscapes and weather can be seen as characters in the novel, in that they reflect the mental landscape of the protagonists — from the fictional, windswept island of Unnr, to the cauterized, unforgiving landscape of the Arizona desert. Both are, in their way, dangerous and claustrophobic landscapes. Robinson explores the relationship between these physical landscapes and emotional suffering, but how do these aspects of the protagonists’ inner and outer lives interact? Or rather, what was unique about the settings of the book, and how did the settings enhance or take away from the story?
8. Forgetting Zoë has an unusual structure for a thriller about captivity: Zoë escapes two thirds of the way through the book. Why do you think this is?
9. Robinson has been praised for not telling the reader what to think, and allowing the worst scenes in the book to take place in the reader’s imagination. Also, the words ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ are never used in the book, though at its core the book explores the syndrome and its effects on both Zoë and Thurman. How convincing or realistic do you think the portrayal of Stockholm Syndrome is, and how important is it that the syndrome is never mentioned?
10. In relation to the previous question, most of the information about the actual kidnap itself, on the morning of October 8th, 1999, is missing from the novel. Why do you think Robinson chose to do this?
11. Robinson has been praised for his taut, spare prose. Why might the prose in Forgetting Zoë be characterized as ’spare’? Discuss examples or particular passages that highlight this quality of Robinson’s writing. What effect does this style have on the novel as a whole, or on your ability to imagine the time and place in which it is set?
12. What were you most affected by in the novel?
13. On page 33, Thurman’s mother says, ‘we all suffer at the hands of those we love’. Can you relate to this statement? If so, to what extent do the characters remind you of yourself, or someone you know? In what ways do lines such as these reveal evidence of the author’s worldview?
14. Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way?
15. Discuss the title of the novel, particularly with regards to the final scene in the book in which Zoë walks away from the burning ranch house. How might Zoë’s qualities of self-possession and self-awareness be reconciled with the conclusion? How do you feel about the end of the novel?
16. What sort of problems do you think Zoë will face now that she is out there, on her own, in the real world? What does joining the outside world do to Zoë, and what might it mean for her future?
