The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice-Cream God
By John R. Powers

448 Pages • $12.95

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
AND REFLECTION

The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice-Cream God
By John R. Powers (click here to learn more about this author)

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Use the following questions as guides to deeper individual understanding of the novel or for group discussion.

1. Compare Tim Conroy of The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God and Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye. In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?

2. Write your own question to God. Now answer the question, first in the style of the character Caepan from the novel, then in your own style.

3. If you were giving Tim Conroy and Sarah Faber some premarital counseling, how would you advise them?

4. How do current conflicts in the world intrude in your personal life, as the Vietnam War did in Tim Conroy’s? What part do your religious beliefs and upbringing play in how you respond to such public issues? Give an example.

5. What was at the root of Tim Conroy’s ambivalence or cynicism about life? Why didn’t his Catholicism seem to help?

6. Imagine that you had to schedule and plan your own funeral right now. What would be your regrets? What would be the things in your life that you would want your friends and family to celebrate?

7. “All religions have worked hard to give you the impression that I’m a stiff; the kind of guy you’d never invite to a party,” God says in one of his notes (p. 45). What is your personal image of God? How does it differ from the image you have been given by your religious education and upbringing?

8. Is “everything important left to luck, good or bad” (see p. 78)?
Why or why not? How does God fit into your philosophy, if at all?

9. Imagine that the Second Vatican Council had never happened. What do you think the Catholic Church in the United States would be like today? Describe it in detail: liturgy, religious education, priesthood and women religious, role of the laity, etc.

10. Do you have a mission worthy of your life? If so, what is it? If not, how are you going to find it?

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