This is an Online Internet Book Club on Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Discuss this book, share your thoughts, make comments, ask questions, offer responses...
Description
"At the age of twelve my ambition was to become a gangster. To be a wiseguy. Being a wiseguy was better than being President of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world." -- Henry Hill
Wiseguy is Nicholas Pileggi's remarkable bestseller, the most intimate account ever printed of life inside the deadly high-stakes world of what some people call the Mafia. Wiseguy is Henry Hill's story, in fascinating, brutal detail, the never-before-revealed day-to-day life of a working mobster -- his violence, his wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistresses, his code of honor.
Henry Hill knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and he turned Federal witness to save his own life. The mob is still hunting him for what he reveals in Wiseguy: hundreds of crimes including arson, extortion, hijacking, and the $6 million Lufthansa heist, the biggest successful cash robbery in U.S. history, which led to ten murders. A firsthand account of the secret world of the mob,
Wiseguy is more compelling than any novel.
Book Club Questions for Wiseguy (Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Wiseguy (Fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Wiseguy:
- Did Nicholas Pileggi emphasize any specific themes throughout Wiseguy? What do you think Nicholas Pileggi is trying to explain with this theme?
- What was unique about the setting of Wiseguy and how did it affect the storyline?
- Could you relate to any of the characters? If so, which ones and why?
- How do characters change or learn throughout Wiseguy? What events caused these changes? Have you or someone you know experienced the same thing?
- How does Wiseguy reveal Nicholas Pileggi's own perspectives about people and the world? For a lively discussion, describe why you think Nicholas Pileggi is liberal or conservative.
- Did certain parts of Wiseguy affect you emotionally? Why did it evoke those emotions?
- Did Nicholas Pileggi's point of view on things lend new perspective to your own view of the world?
Book Club Questions for Wiseguy (for Non-Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Wiseguy (Non-fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Wiseguy:
- Did Nicholas Pileggi make persuasive arguments in Wiseguy? Did Wiseguy change or reinforce your opinion on the subject?
- What did you learn from Wiseguy?
- How does Nicholas Pileggi present the information and did you enjoy it?
- How is Nicholas Pileggi biased within Wiseguy? Is there a political slant to what is being discussed and how does it impact the book?
- What, if anything, does Wiseguy make you want to read next? Why?
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