After Annie: A Novel

What does the novel suggest about the nature of family bonds? How are the Brown family’s connections to each other tested by tragedy, and how do they overcome this challenge? Examine at least three specific examples to support your analysis.

How does the novel criticize the euphemisms and platitudes that people often employ to broach the subject of death? How do such customs affect those who are grieving?

Explore the theme of friendship in the novel. How is Annie and Annemarie’s friendship unique? Compare this connection to Ali’s complicated friendship with Jenny.

Analyze Quindlen’s use of rotating perspectives. Initially, she wrote the book only from Ali’s perspective. How might this have changed the tone of the novel as a whole?

Denial and acceptance are concepts that are often connected to the grieving process. Discuss how at least three characters work through the shock of Annie’s death by accepting her absence and integrating the loss into their lives.

Analyze Dora’s interactions with the family. Is she a believable character, or is she a caricature of the stereotypically toxic mother-in-law? What is her role in the story?

Address the novel’s depictions of opioid addiction. How does Annemarie’s story reflect the reality of the opioid epidemic?

How does the novel portray the universality of loss, not just through death, as a part of the human condition?