Book Discussion Guide

Use this guide to help open up conversation about "The Lobster Chronicles."

Linda Greenlaw's first book, The Hungry Ocean, reveals what it is like to be away from land for 30 days at a time, deep-sea fishing the North Atlantic for huge swordfish.

In The Lobster Chronicles, she returns home. Home to the shore, home to her parents, home to the small island off the coast of Maine where she used to spend her summers as a kid.

The subtitle of the book is "Life on a Very Small Island." Greenlaw's Isle au Haut (pronounced "I'll a hoe" or "I la hoe") has only 47 year-round residents, who seem to be an independent, somewhat cantankerous lot. She was worried, in fact, that her depiction of the islanders would make her unwelcome, but by a careful rearranging of small details, managed to tell a good story and still maintain her island standing.

Discussion Questions

Greenlaw doesn't seem to care too much for committee work, but she perseveres and manages to get a favorite lighthouse added to the Historical Preservation list. She is disappointed in her desire, however, to get her fellow lobstermen to do something about the problem of outsiders encroaching on their fishing grounds. Do you feel that it is important to take part in such civic activities, or are they a waste of time?

Greenlaw has a reputation as an excellent manager. How does she demonstrate the qualities of a manager in The Lobster Chronicles, since she is, for the most part, working with just her Dad on the lobster boat?

Greenlaw makes it clear that part of her reason for moving her job nearer the shore is her desire to find a mate and have a family, yet the way she describes two "dates" she had are among the funniest passages in the book. What do you think would improve her chances in finding the right person?

Greenlaw's Dad seems to be a person of very few words. Do you think the two of them really know each other?

War. Cutting traps, though illegal, worked for one family of mainlanders to keep the islanders from fishing Head Harbor, an area right off the southern end of their island. When a mainlander intruded into other waters the islanders considered theirs, do you think they should have used similar tactics?

What would you do if you lived in Isle au Haut and the lobsters really didn't come back?

What was Greenlaw's mother's reaction to her daughter becoming a fisherman? What is Greenlaw's feeling about her college education? Is a liberal education worth it if you don't get a job in your field?

Is Linda Greenlaw a feminist?

In her book The Hungry Ocean, Greenlaw describes the extreme risks one sometimes has to take in the line of duty. What risks does she take in The Lobster Chronicles?

Town and Teen Questions

For some extra fun, here are some questions we've made up especially for your town, and some especially for teenagers:

STURBRIDGE
The Greenlaw family's fondness for the foghorn which came down through generations from the shipwrecked crew might be the beginning of a reenactment of history such as we see in Sturbridge Village. What benefit does a family or community accrue from telling such stories and saving such objects?

BROOKFIELD
On Isle au Haut a majority of the people are related and or have known each other's families for generations. Do you think the Lighthouse Association issue was more complicated as a consequence? Do you see any parallels in the politics of town meeting in Brookfield?

WALES
Even though Isle au Haut and the town of Wales, MA, are very different communities both geographically and from the point of view of their resources and industries, they share a history of people coming from other countries and cultures. Do you think there was controversy about those who came to work in the mills as there is about those who come to fish Isle au Haut's waters?

SOUTHBRIDGE
Southbridge might be analogous to the town of Stonington in Lobster Chronicles, a center for the services the denizens of Isle au Haut require. What special or different resources might such a lifeline community require? Does the sense of community change as the population increases? How might it be strengthened if it needs strengthening?

BRIMFIELD CHARLTON HOLLAND
Could Isle au Haut be any other place, Brimfield, Charlton, or
Holland for instance., and could the story be similar? Would Linda learn the same lessons or come to the same conclusions in a different community?

CHARLTON
What do you think about the relationship between the Summer People, and the Year Rounder's as depicted in the book? Is there a similar bond between the Summer People and the Year Rounder's in Charlton?

BRIMFIELD
Brimfield brings up a similar question. How would the memoir
progress if the story were set in Brimfield and the Summer People were the Flea Market people?

HOLLAND
Throughout The Lobster Chronicles Linda Greenlaw talks about the lack of services in the community, about how they have to go off island for health care and education. In a small community like Holland how do fewer services affect the social structure? Is there any instance where the lack of specific community services changes or diminishes people's lives?

Could a story like Linda's grandmother's burial be told in Holland? Does this kind of occurrence only happen where families go back generations and there are family burial plots or remote country graveyards?

TEENAGERS
If you lived on Isle au Haut where there are no gathering places for teenagers, and maybe only a handful of teenagers at that, what do you think you would do for fun (without the Internet)?

Do you think Linda Greenlaw's approach to finding a husband is a good one? What would you do to find a boyfriend or girlfriend in such a small and remote community(without the Internet)?

How would you feel about your family having to move off the Island so that you could go to High School? What if they couldn't afford to move and you had to board somewhere?

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For more information contact Ellie Chesebrough, Library Director
E-mail: echesebr@cwmars.org      Phone: (508)347-2512
Address: 306 Main Street Sturbridge MA 01566-1242
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