#bookchat Announcement: Event dates, chat is LIVE + Discussion points

Readers of ‘My Cousin Maria Schneider’ will be joining the discussions across five time zones! Both Elisabeth and I are looking forward to a lively and entertaining discussion. This sounds like fun.

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It’s wonderful that those of you who are reading ‘My Cousin Maria Schneider’ with us will be joining the discussion across five time zones! Both Elisabeth and I are looking forward to a lively and entertaining discussion both on our LIVE text chat channels and the online Discussion. This sounds like fun. If you’d like to forward this information and RSVP Form to friends please do so - the more the merrier.

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1. Live Text Chat Channels x 2 are open

Here are the links to the two chat channels which are now open, please jump in and say hi and share your thoughts on this intriguing book. Both Elisabeth and I will be there. You can join whichever #chat that suits you best, or even both if you’d like to do so!

a) Substack link ← click here or below

[Note: You’ll need to have already subscribed to our newsletter ‘le Bulletin by Judy MacMahon’ as a free or paid subscriber to gain access]

How to get started using chat on Substack if you haven’t used Substack before.

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

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b) Facebook link ←click here.

[Note: You’ll need to have already joined the private MyFrenchLife Community Group and the private #bookchat Group beforehand to gain access.]

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2. Online Events:

Event #1:

USA & Canada - Monday 21 August afternoon/evening
- PDT 4 pm
- MDT 5 pm
- EDT 7 pm - Elisabeth
Australia - AEST - Tuesday 22 August morning 9 am - Judy

Event #2:

USA - EDT - Tuesday 22 August early morning 7 am - Elisabeth
Europe - Paris - Tuesday 22 August early afternoon - 1 pm
Australia - AEST - Tuesday 22 August evening - 9 pm - Judy

Two EVENTs will be online via ZOOM. Your invitation will be sent by email ONLY if you’ve completed this RSVP form. No link will be published publicly.

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3. Discussion Points & Questions:

There is so much to discuss. The discussion points and questions below are intended to prompt thought and discussion about this multi-layered book ‘My Cousin Maria Schneider’ by Vanessa Schneider and translated by Molly Ringwald.

Judy will be co-ordinating the discussions and Elisabeth will be facilitating.

Discussion points/questions for My Cousin, Maria Schneider: A Memoir

1. How much did you know about Maria Schneider before you read this book? 

2. Who/what is the “subject” of this book? You may want to first think about the “who” part, and then the “what” part of this question. 

3. Very early on in the book, commenting on a photo of Maria taken when she was about 12, the author writes this: “You wear the worried expression of a child who senses her path in life will be paved with sharp and jagged stones.” What are the factors that, by this early in Maria’s life, have already made it problematic at best? 

4. Maria Schneider is most remembered by most people for her role in Last Tango in Paris, especially the infamous rape scene. Do you think that her life would have turned out differently if she had never been cast in that film?

5. How do you feel about this memoir being written in the second person singular? 

6. Any thoughts about the author’s writing style and organization of this book? 

7. What are your feelings about Maria’s mother and her father, the very famous actor Daniel Gélin? 

8. This question was asked to Vanessa by the host of the French literary TV program “La Grande Librairie”: “Would you have written the same book if you had co-written it with Maria”? What do you think? 

9. And what if she had written it after the MeToo movement was in full swing (she was writing its last few pages when it was just starting)? 

10. What do you think of the fact that Vanessa never saw Last Tango in Paris? 

11. Vanessa often mentions and laments the fact that her family was not “normal” - what is the impact on her of having been raised by hippie parents who were deeply steeped in extreme left-wing politics, and of feeling that she was not like “all the other kids”? 

12. How is addiction portrayed in this memoir? Are there other addicts in Maria’s family? 

13. What do you think was, and still is the impact of Maria’s being 17 years older than Vanessa on her perspective on her cousin? 

14. Vanessa Schneider, on a panel organized by La Villa Albertine in New York City, asked the question “What is the truth?” and “Can we tell the truth about someone else?” - what are your thoughts on this?

15. Some readers of her book and viewers of her interviews have labeled Vanessa as “an opportunist who exploits her cousin” in this book, which some also deem “voyeuristic.” What do you think of this kind of judgment passed on her and her book? 

16. Do you find it interesting or compelling that Molly Ringwald, who was once a child actress, is this book’s translator? 

17. Your final thoughts about this book. 

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Discussion EVENT RSVP open until 20 August

Here is your link to the RSVP Form ← click here - Remember that RSVP is essential

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Many thanks to you all

We look forward to our discussions soon.

Warm regards
Judy and Elisabeth.