The Pattersons: A Novel
Fiction / 2 Cities Press, 2012
The Pattersons is the story of a rich and powerful family’s path to redemption—a path hewn from the bedrock of American history, and one with the power to energize an American Dream that, for many, seems out of reach. Michael’s first novel is an action-packed adventure whose main characters learn to rekindle the warrior energy that can make midlife a time of renewal for us and our communities.
Discussion Guide
About the novel
1. Is the Patterson family patriarch, Charles Marshall Patterson, a realistic stereotype of the nineteenth-century businessman? Why or why not?
2. Describe Marshall’s birth family in Wichita, Kansas. Do we know enough about his parents and brother to understand the social and cultural environment in which he was raised, and the pressures that he felt as he grew to adulthood?
3. What makes the mythical Birchwood Bay, Wisconsin, an appropriate setting for the story?
4. Which characters are the most plausible, and which ones are the least plausible?
5. Describe Ellen’s relationship with her children, Daniel and Chloe. Are these relationships realistic?
6. Describe the relationship between Marshall and Gus Grey Feather. Is their relationship realistic?
7. Describe what you believe to be the climactic scene. Is it plausible? Why or why not?
8. Comment on Marshall’s and Ellen’s return to their youthful passions. Are their passages realistic?
9. Could Marshall and Ellen have summoned the courage to change their lives without the mediation of Phillip O’Connor and Gus Grey Feather?
10. Did you expect Marshall and Ellen to try to salvage their marriage? Given the different paths that they choose to follow after the crisis in Birchwood Bay has passed, can their marriage survive?
The novel and your life
1. Is there a Patterson migration story in your family’s history? If so, does it have meaning for you and your family?
2. Are there, or have there been, figures comparable to Phillip O’Connor and Gus Grey Feather in your life?
3. What is warrior energy, and how is it manifested in The Pattersons? Have you experienced warrior energy in your own life?
4. Marshall Patterson’s accident sent him into what might be described as “a dark night of the soul.” Have you or someone you know experienced a similar descent into darkness? If so, what helped you push through it? Alternatively, what keeps you from realizing your potential in the face of setbacks and tragedies?
5. With which of the characters, if any, do you identify most strongly, and why?
The novel and contemporary American culture
1. Is this novel a polemic against corporate America?
2. Are you attuned to frontier imagery in contemporary American culture? If so, does it have traction beyond sales and marketing of consumer products?
3. Describe what you believe to be the primary sociological issues and / or insights. How are they manifested in contemporary American culture?
4. Is the American Dream in jeopardy?
5. Is this novel relevant to modern-day concerns about corporate power and environmental degradation?