This Tender Land

1. General Impressions 

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

• The story portrays a great deal of human suffering. On balance, did you find it depressing, or uplifting?
• This Tender Land is a companion novel to Kruger’s 2014 novel, Ordinary Grace. What is the relationship between these two novels? Do you see any overlap in their themes, or do they convey completely different messages?
• Kruger’s novel is both a coming-of-age story and a journey story. What other stories of these types have you read, watched, or played? What do you enjoy most and least about stories like this?

2. Personal Reflection and Connection 

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

• What conflicting ideas about religion is Odie exposed to? Do any of these ideas resonate with your own beliefs, or do you find that your perspective is not represented in this novel? How does your answer impact your experience of reading the book?
• Odie encounters many kinds of injustice. Which injustice made the strongest impression on you? How does this reflect your personal values?
• Do you believe in the idea of supernatural gifts? How does your answer affect your interpretation of Emmy’s and Eve’s characters?
• What is your own definition of “home”? Which character’s understanding of this term best reflects your views? 
• Odie and his companions sometimes find themselves in circumstances where they must make difficult moral choices. Do you agree with their choices? Have you ever found yourself in such a situation?

3. Societal and Cultural Context 

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

• What do you know about the Great Depression? Which events in the story are unlikely to have occurred in another historical period? Is the story still relevant to today’s reader, despite its story being so intrinsically related to a specific historical era?
• Odie and Albert attend a boarding school for Indigenous children. What is the history of these schools? What other Indigenous history is discussed in this story? How does Indigenous history relate to Kruger’s choice to have a white narrator and a key Indigenous character who cannot speak?

4. Literary Analysis 

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

• The name of the fictional Gilead River is a Biblical allusion. What are some potential meanings of this allusion? How does the boys’ journey down the river also allude to Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn? What is the function of this allusion? Is there a relationship between these two allusions?
• What is the significance of the stories Odie tells to Albert, Mose, and Emmy? How does Odie view storytelling? Is the novel itself promoting the same messages about storytelling?
• What role does nature play in the novel’s plot and themes? What perspective on nature is conveyed in this text?
• What is the meaning of Odie’s name? What classical text does this allude to, and how does Kruger develop this allusion via the story’s plot, characters, and structure?
• In a coming-of-age story, a young protagonist encounters experiences that help them mature and grow. How does Odie change from the beginning of the novel to its end? Which experiences cause him to grow and mature the most?

5. Creative Engagement

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

• There are many playlists on Spotify that compile the music mentioned in this novel. How does listening to these songs enhance your understanding of the story? If you were going to add a song that is not specifically mentioned in the novel but that represents a particular moment in the text, what song would you choose, and why?
• Odie believes in the presence of miracles in his life. If you could magically create a miracle for Odie, what would it be, and why?
• In the Epilogue, Odie admits to having embellished parts of his story. Which parts do you think he is referring to? If you were trying to convey the same messages that Odie is trying to convey, which parts might you embellish even more? What kinds of exaggerations and alterations would you add to the story?

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