READERS GUIDE

The protagonist of False Prophet, Jal Persad, makes a decision in the opening pages that the rest of the novel attempts to contextualize and explain as we learn more about his character, his past wounds, and the things he desires. In thinking through the events of the novel, as well as Jal’s character arc, consider the following.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Jal’s lie about his mother at lunch with his agent sets the events of the story in motion. How does your sense of why Jal tells that lie change from the beginning of the novel to the end?

2. Jal has a unique relationship to his dog, Teddy. What is it that Teddy does for Jal, and how might this relate to Jal’s decision to continue his lie as he starts garnering attention for it?

3. Kate, the ghostwriter, goes from someone innocently telling Jal’s mother’s story, to a sort of conspirator/accomplice. Why do you think Kate continues to tell the story even after she learns it is based on a lie?

4. How would you describe Rita’s (the made-up version in Jal’s story) relationship to her family? How would you describe her relationship to her country? To her unborn son?

5. As Jal transforms, becoming, in some ways, a little more like Jim Jones, how aware do you think Jal is of the ways he is changing?

6. Would you, in fact, say that Jal changes from the beginning of the novel to the end? Why or why not?

7. What do you think Jal’s Uncle Ramesh is trying to warn Jal about regarding the lie he is telling? What do you think Jal does with this warning?

8. Why do you think people are so taken and inspired by Jal and his mother’s story? What is it that they are responding to?

9. What does it mean to be a false prophet? Why, according to the novel, would someone be tempted to become one?

10. At the end, the reporter, Rupert, offers Jal one final way out. Jal doesn’t take it after finding out that Teddy will be okay. Why do you think this is the case?