READERS GUIDE

The questions that follow are designed to enrich your book club’s discussion of Villa Coco. We hope they enhance your experience of this madcap, magical tale.
 

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. From the moment our young man steps off the train in Florence, what transformations does he experience? How is he perceived by those who think of him as Giovedì, the American scholar? In the end, what does he discover about his true self?

2. As you read about Villa Coco’s many treasures, which ones were the most intriguing to you? How would you describe the Baronessa’s curatorial style and her “organizing principles”? In what ways does her storytelling enhance the value of her prized objects? Which of your possessions is the most valuable to you?

3. How did your impressions of Oscar shift as you learned more about artistry, his life, and his history with the Baronessa? What kept her devotion to him aflame for so many decades?

4. Is Pippa shrewd or foolish? Would you enjoy being with her at a dinner party? 

5. How does Nimali’s cooking affect our young man? How do the fresh ingredients and mealtime rituals, enhanced by immersion in the seasons of a beautiful landscape, lead to an awakening?

6. When the narrator and Giacomo go on a sojourn to view the Byzantine sites of Ravenna, what common ground do they share? In some ways, does Giacomo have more freedom than the narrator does?

7. Estelle and Ghazel take exceptionally good care of the Baronessa. In the Baronessa’s world, does social rank matter very much? Does she treat royals and servants differently? When the narrator encounters another American caregiver who warns him about becoming entangled in service to a signora (p. 173), were you concerned?

8. The novel features love in many forms, from brief passion to lifelong devotion. What beautiful truths about human nature are revealed in these relationships?

9. The nonfriend Furman Childress (aka Pullman) plays a pivotal role. What were your theories about his significance in the Baronessa’s life? What do you think his ultimate motivations are?

10. In the closing scenes, how does the story of Tetrarch’s toe capture the essence of the Baronessa’s legendary life? What does she teach us about the key to fulfillment?

11. On page 253, did you agree with the narrator’s statement that “they all lived in a sealed world of comic-strip logic, and within that world, all schemes ended as happily as a monkey’s life in Zanzibar”? Where are the lines between comedy and bittersweet tragedy in Villa Coco?

12. How does Villa Coco enhance the humorous yet poignant themes in previous books by Greer that you have read? Would the Baronessa and Arthur Less make good traveling companions?

13. At one point, the Baronessa says, to our narrator but also really to nobody in particular:
“‘We have to choose something,’ she said at last. ‘The wrong choice, maybe, but we have to choose’” (p. 258)? What do you make of that? What would it mean not to choose?

Suggested Reading

Emma Cline, The Guest
William Demby, King Comus
Ryan Effgen, Make Nice
Dave Eggers, Contrapposto
Juliet Grames, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia
Tania James, Loot
Kevin Kwan, Lies and Weddings
Maggie O’Farrell, The Marriage Portrait
Jay Parini, Borges and Me: An Encounter
Beppe Severgnini, Italian Lessons: Fifty Things We Know About Life Now