READERS GUIDE

All the Colors of the Dark
Reading Group Guide
Chris Whitaker
 
In order to provide reading groups with the most informed and thought-provoking questions possible, it is necessary to reveal certain aspects of the plot. If you have not finished reading All the Colors of the Dark, we respectfully suggest that you do so before reviewing this guide.


1. Class and social status are themes throughout the book. How do wealth and poverty affect or inform the characters? How do they affect the search for Patch? 

2. Why does young Saint feel a responsibility to Patch? Why does she continue the search against the advice of her grandmother and the authorities? And why does Chief Nix humor her? 

3. Throughout the novel, each of the characters pursues someone—i.e. Jimmy pursues Saint, Saint pursues Patch, Patch pursues Grace, et al. Does anyone ever get what they are truly looking for? 

4. How do Patch and Saint evolve over the course of the novel? Or do they? 

5. Today, tracking someone down can be as simple as typing a name into a search engine. What is different or remarkable about how Patch and Saint conduct their searches in the 1970s and ’80s? 

6. Why does Saint join the search for Grace? How does this change the trajectory of her life? 

7. Talk about the different paths Patch and Saint take. Why do you think they make those choices, despite other options available to them? Is one nobler than the other? 

8. It would be the first time Patch saved a missing girl, Saint notes. Why doesn’t Saint take the credit? 

9. How does the town and the country change over the period of the book? 

10. Even decades later, why does Saint still see Patch as a kid? 

11. Having a purpose is another theme of the book. Why is it important to have one? What happens when purpose changes, especially for the characters? 

12. Aside from the missing girls, how many victims are there of that fateful day when Patch was taken? Or do you see them as survivors?
 
13. What do the paintings offer to Patch? What do they mean to Sammy and others? 

14. It seems everyone in Monta Clare has secrets. Which secrets surprised you most? 

15. As the years roll on, what did you think about Grace? Did you think she was real or simply a coping mechanism of Patch’s imagination and survival instinct? 

16. What did you think about the ending? What surprised you? What is resolved? 

17. What does the book say about family? About love? 

18. What does the novel say about letting go?