Thank you for Selecting ANGEls of the Pacific for your Book club.
HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS to help guide your discussion …
1. Before reading this novel, what did you know about World War II in the Pacific? Were you surprised by anything you learned? Was there anything specific you discovered about the Philippines and its occupation during the war?
2. This novel gives us a sense of what war was like for enlisted men and women on the front lines, civilians coping with occupation, and prisoners struggling with internment. How did the challenges of survival differ depending on the setting?
3. Which characters were you rooting for the most? Were there some characters you identified with more than others?
4. As Flor and Luchie become more deeply enmeshed in resistance activities, how does their relationship shift?
5. Tess has the opportunity to leave Corregidor for Australia, but doesn’t take it. How does this pivotal decision change her?
6. How are the themes of racism and prejudice woven throughout this story between the Americans, Filipinos, and Japanese?
7. The Filipinos have lived through many changes from Spanish colonial rule, the Spanish-American War, annexation to the United States, Japanese occupation, and then widespread destruction due to World War II. How do you see these changes impacting the Dalisays, Luchie, Yasmin, and the other Filipino characters in this book?
8. Tess tells her daughter, a young woman attending the University of Washington in the late 1960s, that they’re from two very different generations. In the last century, how have different generations handled hardship, grief, and trauma? What do you think accounts for these differences?
9. How do you think American civilians viewed the war differently from civilians from other countries who experienced the war on their doorsteps? How do you think this difference in perspective affected Americans who came home after serving abroad and witnessing the effects of war firsthand?
10. The role of American women in the military has changed tremendously since the American Civil War. How do you see their jobs changing in this story?
11. Though life has changed since the ‘40s in many ways, what can we learn from the women who enlisted in World War II?
American Army nurses in Manila wearing new uniforms after their liberation from Santo Tomas Internment Camp in February 1945. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives, US Signal Corps)
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