Prophet Song

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Did Eilish’s resilience resonate with you? How do you cultivate resilience in your life? 

2. The novel underscores the importance of the family unit in building resilience. What groups, communities, or relationships do you turn to to find empowerment, purpose, and resolve?

3. How plausible did you find the dystopia that Lynch brings to life in his novel? Did it remind you of your own society in any way? 

4. Is it important to voice your values, beliefs, and political stances? How does your opinion on this compare to the novel’s position on personal politics (consider, for example, how speaking out or remaining silent shapes Larry, Mark, and Eilish’s character arcs)?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Lynch transposes the crises of other countries onto Ireland’s contemporary political state. How might this serve as a critique of Ireland’s (and the broad Global West’s) attitudes toward crises around the world?

2. The authoritarian tyranny of the state the novel depicts also resonates with the Republic of Ireland’s history as a former colony of the United Kingdom. How does the political backdrop of the novel draw on its former colonizer’s recent political history, particularly with regard to the influence of far-right political parties?

3. Larry’s reputation is destroyed by the state, creating tension between the truth that his family knows and the truth that the state’s citizens are made to accept. Discuss how truth can be weaponized as a tool to advance an agenda. What does this suggest about the nature of truth and its role in human society? Where do you see these issues playing out in the real world?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Discuss the ways Eilish’s children represent her attachment to Ireland. How does Eilish resolve her inability to leave Dublin despite the increasing danger?

2. What does it say about Lynch’s intentions that the novel remains focused on Eilish’s narrative arc (e.g., instead of following Mark when he joins the resistance fighters)? How does this define the novel’s primary conflict?

3. How does Lynch’s authorial style, which eschews punctuation and traditional rules of grammar, drive the novel’s tone? Consider as well the way his style resonates with the novel’s message about rebellion and institutional oppression, especially considering the status of English as a colonial language.

4. Discuss the symbolic use of flags and scarves in this novel. How might the contrast between the hanging of flags and the wearing of scarves suggest the novel’s position on embodied values and belief systems?