How to Enhance Your Reading of A Beautiful Death

Here are some suggested questions for discussion that can be used in book groups or for individual study. Please feel free to submit other questions to Cheryl@ABeautifulDeath.net.

1. What comes to mind for you when you hear the phrase “a beautiful death?”
2. Has reading the book changed your mind or confirmed your opinion?
3. In addition to being an inspirational story about the end of life, A Beautiful Death can be read from many perspectives: love story, personal growth journey, spiritual pilgrimage. What perspective(s) spoke most strongly to you?
4. There are some strong visual images that recur throughout the book. What did you notice?
5. A Beautiful Death is based on Cheryl Eckl’s journals. What is your experience with journal writing?
6. How did reading the book affect your thoughts about or practice of journaling?
7. What is the value (if any) in keeping a journal, especially in times of great personal challenge?
8. Are there similarities between Stephen and Cheryl’s experience and your own life?
9. Were those similarities or lack of them important to you as you read the book?
10. Did you think about other people who had gone through the same thing?
11. What did you want to do as a result?
12. How do the Questions for Reflection relate to the story?
13. How do they relate to your life?
14. How might you use them in everyday life–not just dramatic loss or change?
15. Has reading A Beautiful Death prepared you to deal with the end of life in a different way than you might have done? If so, how.
16. Did the book answer questions you had about the end of life?
17. Did it raise more questions or concerns?
18. What was your overall experience of reading the book?