Group Discussion Questions

If you belong to a Book Club or are thinking of forming one, please consider When the Piano Stops and the following list of discussion questions for your meeting. PRINT links are located at the top and bottom of this page.

1. When the Piano Stops contains vivid scenes of sexual abuse, mental illness, and alcoholism. Has reading it altered your perspective on any of these issues?
2. Catherine and Peter faced many challenges in their marriage. Some of them were a direct result of wounds inflicted on her through her father’s abuse and her mother’s alcoholism and compliance. Some were a result of Peter’s background. Some were related to the culture of the time, and some were challenges every married couple must grapple with. List their challenges, delineate which category you would put them in, and discuss their relevance in the context of your own life.
3. Has reading this book given you any ideas about how you can be a good support to a family member or a friend who has been sexually abused? How would you approach the topic with them?
4. Do you think there is a relationship between mental illness and evil? If so, what sense do you make of their connection?
5. Why do you think Catherine’s father chose not to seek treatment for his mental illness? Why did her mother stay with him?
6. Catherine’s memoir gives us an inside look at the dynamics of her therapy. She develops a strong attachment to her therapist, Mary Anne, and the power of their relationship is a driving force in her healing. What factors contributed to the richness of their relational bond?
7. The influences of religion, music, and education are consistent themes in Catherine’s life. In your own life, how have these influences helped or hindered you?
8. Rituals – both those she is exposed to as a child and those she creates as an adult -- are strong components of Catherine’s healing process. What roles have rituals played in your life?
9. When the Piano Stops presents the reader with episodes related to the sexuality of several characters in the story. Have you developed any new insights as a result of this? If so, what are they?
10. This book also deals with end of life issues and eldercare. Did reading it stir up any new thoughts or feelings about these issues for you?
11. Did any aspects of this memoir move you to deal differently with a relationship in your own life?
12. At the end of the prologue Catherine pleads with you to make some good of having read her story. Name three concrete ways in which you can do that.