Book Club: Sleep by Nino Ricci

Delve deeper with these five Book Club Discussion points for Nino Ricci’s Sleep:

1. Sleep obviously provides physical rest, but what role does it play in emotional and spiritual rejuvenation? To what extent can Pace blame his problems on his insomnia?

2. We’re given insight into Pace’s teaching methods through a scene in which he shocks his students with a comparison between Rome’s system of slavery and America’s own dark history. What do you think of his approach? Is it fair to put students on the spot so abruptly, and what does that achieve?

3. Following Pace’s move to the U.S., Ricci outlines how easy it is to purchase a firearm with little more than a quick background check. Does he make a case for one country’s system versus the other? How are guns perceived differently in Canadian and American culture?

4. After a father-son visit to the firing range, Pace imagines bonding with his son through a shared love of guns. On a flirtatious night out with a new colleague, he introduces her to the exhilarating effects of GHB. Why are so many of Pace’s relationships built on faulty foundations? Does he manage a true connection with anyone?

5. By Sleep‘s third act, Pace is working as a journalist in an unnamed city in the Middle East (the mention of lapsed Soviet involvement in the area suggests Afghanistan). He is chasing an interview with a local warlord, but instead encounters a group of child soldiers armed to the teeth. What insights can we draw from the fascination with weapons shared by several characters throughout the book?