Book club questions for The Thinning

We hope these questions help guide your group's discussion of this thought-provoking page turner! 

• Nature is a central theme in many of Inga Simpson’s works. How is this explored throughout The Thinning? What do you think are some of the other core themes of the novel?

• Have you read any of Inga Simpson’s previous books? If so, how would you compare them to The Thinning?

• What genre would you categorise The Thinning as? Do you think it could it be considered to be a number of different genres?

• Now that you’ve read the book, revisit the three epigraphs. Why do you think Inga Simpson chose them? How do they foreshadow or explore the key themes of the novel?

• How does the world Inga Simpson has created in The Thinning feel similar or different to ours? In what ways is it distinctly Australian?

• ‘Finley. You grew up beneath these stars. They’re part of you’ (page 31). How has Fin’s life been shaped by her deep connection with astronomy and astro-photography?

• How does Terry change as a character through the events of the novel and their connection with Fin? How might their future have been different if they’d never seen Fin in the first place?

• Hild’s parents made a very different choice to Fin’s about mandatory fertility testing. How have their decisions changed the lives of their daughters? Do you think there was a clear right or wrong choice, or were there shades of grey?

• From the CIVIL TWILIGHT section of the book onwards, each chapter starts with a timestamp. How did this affect your reading experience? Did it hep build tension?

• ‘With him gone, nothing fits back together in the same way. My mother and I are stuck, orbiting each other like binary stars, a dark nebula of loss, devoted to the project of survival (page 143)’. How do we see Dianella and Fin process their grief? How does their mother-daughter relationship change as a result?

• What do you think the future looks like for Fin and Terry and why?