READERS GUIDE
All Days Are Night Reading Group Guide1. Describe the sense of alienation and displacement Gillian experiences—from her body, her home, her family, and her past decisions. Do you think these experiences are brought about by her disfigurement, or were they there even before her accident? How does Gillian’s relationship with her body change over the course of the novel?
2. What is Gillian’s relationship with invisibility? Think of her game as a child (p 9), her position as a public figure recognized for her beauty and the effect that has on her relationship with Matthias, the floor-length windows in her apartment, and her moving to her parents’ vacation home.
3. On page 68 Hubert tells Gillian, “This isn’t a photo shoot. Can’t you just look normal? As if you were alone?” What is Gillian’s relationship to the male gaze? Are there ever moments in the narrative when she is free of it?
4. What is the significance of Gillian’s training as an actress? In what ways is she put on display even when she is not at work? Who else is put on display in the novel, and what relationship does Gillian have with them?
5. On page 77 we learn, “She couldn’t account for what it was about Hubert that attracted her.” Why do you think Gillian is attracted to Hubert?
6. What effect does the change in point of view have on your reading experience?
7. On page 132 Jill says, “That’s a frightening thought, isn’t it, that you’re capable of killing someone with your art.” How does art influence and inform Gillian and Hubert’s lives? How does your understanding of Hubert’s art change when the narrative changes to his point of view?
8. What is the difference between the two times Hubert sketches Gillian?
9. Does Gillian or Hubert experience “lived moments[s]” (p 147)? What brings about these moments? How do they differ for each character?
10. Why do you think Gillian returns again and again to moments from her childhood?
