READERS GUIDE
SCAVENGERS Reading Group Discussion Questions1. At the start of Scavengers, Bea takes a risk at work that results in disaster in the short-term but is also the impetus for a necessary reckoning with herself. Failure is often more complex than it initially seems. Has failure ever led you to any unexpected places or conclusions?
2. When Bea arrives at Christy’s house in Salt Lake City, Christy surprises her with a fake aspen tree that becomes a recurring motif. What do you think the aspen signals about their relationship and how does its significance evolve over the course of the novel?
3. Scavengers is a mother-daughter story that explores the complicated bonds, obligations, and debts within a family. Christy and Bea’s relationship has always been fraught, but they also have a special understanding and connection. As you read, do you find yourself identifying with both characters and relating to their dynamic? How can trust be rebuilt in the face of precarity?
4. Money—having it, wanting it, losing it—plays a major role in Scavengers. What do Bea and Christy’s attitudes towards money reveal about their characters and priorities? How does it influence their choices and relationships? What does it mean to truly value someone, and how is that value shown?
5. Stories about buried treasure have fascinated readers for generations. The hunt in Scavengers is based on the Forrest Fenn treasure, a cache of gold and valuable artifacts hidden by an art dealer in the Rocky Mountains. Fenn’s 2010 memoir contained a cryptic poem with clues to the treasure’s location, which was ultimately discovered in 2020. What is the source of the treasure hunt narrative’s enduring appeal?
6. In the wake of Gertie’s passing, Bea and Christy share a tender moment over a meal of leftover Italian food. How does grief expand our capacity to forgive or empathize? Discuss.
7. Bea goes from speculating on the weather and environment at her desk in New York to experiencing nature firsthand out in rural Utah. How does being in the wild, especially the harsh and potentially lethal conditions of the desert, affect one’s values and perspective? What ways of living does the desert make possible and impossible?
8. The western U.S. has long been a powerful setting and symbol in American fiction, often associated with mythical, complicated notions of freedom, fortune, and deliverance. How does this setting relate to Scavengers’ themes? How have the backdrops of your own life shaped your memories and experiences?
9. What do you make of the novel’s ending?
