Contents ( 49)
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This reader’s guide for Into the Jungle includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.
But when the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expects: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’s abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life.
When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero and decides to go back, love-struck Lily goes along, following Omar into a ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle—its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience.
Topics and Questions for Discussion
1. At the beginning of Into the Jungle, Lily describes herself as “a half-starved, high-strung wild child” (page 7). What were your initial impressions of Lily? Did you like her? Why or why not? What factors contributed to Lily’s wild nature?
2. Discuss the epigraph that begins Into the Jungle. Why do you think Ferencik choose to include it? How does it frame your understanding of the narrative? Who were the shamans that you encountered in Into the Jungle? How did they use their powers? What do you think makes a shaman worthy of the title?
3. Describe Omar. Would you have responded to his initial overture? Why does Lily? When Omar shows up at the Versailles the day after meeting Lily as promised, Lily says that it was “just a simple promise kept, but it gleamed and sparkled” (page 27). Explain her reaction. Even though Omar has shown himself to be trustworthy, Lily initially lies to him about her background. Why do you think she does so? What did you think of her lies?
4. Although Lily has been told that life in the jungle is hard and unforgiving, she “had begun to conjure some fairy-tale magical life under the stars in ‘nature,’ away from the filth and noise of the city” (page 43). Compare Lily’s imaginings of life in the jungle with the reality. How does she first react to life in Ayachero? What is her day-to-day life like and what challenges does she face? Why does she decide to go despite the warnings that she receives? What would you do if you were in her position?
5. Early in the novel, Lily muses, “Sex was nothing, or it was a violence, a currency; love a ruse” (page 31).