Hi, hello everyone! We are super excited to have read THE CARTOGRAPHERS with you this month, and we cannot wait to get into our discussion questions!
Question 1: If you were to create your own Dreamer’s Atlas, which fictional world would you choose to recreate in the style of a real world map, and which real world city would you choose to recreate in the style of a fictional map?
Caitlyn: I just love the idea of the Dreamer’s Atlas, I think that it’s completely fascinating and would love to see this idea brought to life in some way. Were I to make my own Dreamer’s Atlas, I would love to take the fictional Kingdom of Corona from Tangled and recreate it as a real world map. It seems like a fairly large Kingdom based on what we see from the film and the Tangled series, with lots of different pathways and then there’s the intricacies of the woods. I think this could be really interesting and if I had more (or any…) artistic abilities I would absolutely attempt this!
I think that It would be really cool to recreate New York City as a fairytale style map! There are so many possibilities with the five boroughs, each has its own style and personality that I think could translate really well to a fairytale inspired design!
Cossette: The Dreamer’s Atlas is such a cool concept, and I spent so much time while reading The Cartographers hoping that one does exist somewhere! Something I’d love to see a map for is The Starless Sea, and all its many layers, but I also think that Cabeswater/Henrieta from The Raven Cycle, as well as the world in Down Comes the Night would be really cool to see!
Mary: I would love to make a map of the world from The Night Circus, especially with all the circus tents! I also think it would be fun to do a map of The Lord of the Rings in a modern style, and I would love to see how it would translate. In the reverse, I would love to do a map of Winchester, a town in England where I spent a lot of my childhood, in the style of any high fantasy novel. The town is already so historic, so I would love to see how that would look!
Question 2: In The Cartographers, a number of characters go to great lengths to hide the coveted gas station map. If you were in their position, where would you hide the map?
Caitlyn: I think I would hide mine in the theatre I grew up performing in! The great thing about theatres is that there are so many little nooks and crannies that things can be hiding in that people would simply walk right past because there is just so much going on. There are so many possible hiding spots now that I really think about it, that theatre specifically I know just about as well as my own home, so I’d know where to hide it so others wouldn’t be able to find it.
Cossette: If I was in that position, I think I’d hide it somewhere where no one would suspect. I’m not really sure where, but maybe somewhere outdoors-y, since I’m not a very outdoors-y person? Otherwise, I might hide it with a trusted friend!
Mary: Oh god, I don’t think I’d be good at hiding it. Honestly, I tell my best friends so much, it would be hard to not to tell them the minute I find out it’s magical. That being said, I think I would hide it somewhere abandoned. Otherwise, I think it would be smart to hide it somewhere in plain sight. Or, like Coco said, with a trusted friend.
Question 3: Peng Shepherd utilizes a lot of flashbacks, as well as oral stories passed between Nell and various characters, as a way for us to learn about what really happened between the original core group of The Cartographers. Were you a fan of this narrative style? How did this help, or hinder, your investment in the story?
Caitlyn: In general, I’m a huge fan of flashback scenes, so I absolutely appreciated the flashback scenes in The Cartographers. At first the oral stories kind of threw me off because suddenly we were from third person narrative to first person narrative, but I got used to it after the first one and ended up really enjoying it actually! I think we got to know a bit more about the cartographers and their personalities through the first person narration.
Cossette: I really loved the flashback scenes in The Cartographers, but I do agree with Caitlyn in that the oral stories threw me off at first. I think, personally, I liked the flashback scenes even more than the present day storyline. I loved how the links and connections unfolded, how each cartographer had their own secret and motivations, and how we got to learn about all of that.
Mary: I adored the flashback scenes! They were some of my favourite parts of the book, and I wish we had more. I understand why they were few and far between, but I loved them so much. It gave such a great insight into the characters’ pasts, as well as their motivations regarding the map. I loved seeing how all of the people in the Cartographers impacted Nell’s life, and how they (unknowingly) shaped her life. I would love a prequel of them all, actually!
Question 4: A recurring question through The Cartographers is, “What is the purpose of a map?” and Dr. Young always responded with, “To bring people together”. How do you think maps — specifically the gas station map — strengthen and weaken the bonds between the characters throughout the story?
Caitlyn: I’ve never actually thought about a map’s purpose before — at least in the sense that they do within The Cartographers, and the response “to bring people together” actually really resonated with me. Maps take us to new places and therefore, take us to new people and I think it’s so cool that this thing that we all kind of take for granted actually connects us more so than anything else. I just think that’s really cool.
I love that the gas station map is really the main character of The Cartographers. The gas station map is the through line from start to finish. It’s the thing that tears apart The Cartographers, but it’s also the thing that brings them back together.
Cossette: In The Cartographers, maps are portrayed as something that’ll lead you to someone — for example, there’s the gas station map, Ramona’s business card, and even the map that Felix drew when he asked Nell out for the first time. I feel like, in a sense, maps are also a symbol of vulnerability,of trust, and of allowing people access to you — physically, and emotionally. Like Cait said, I think it’s so interesting how the gas station map is the one thing that tore them apart, but also the thing that brings them back together. The Cartographers understand how important the gas station map is, and what it can be, but more importantly, they’re aware of just how dangerous it can be. I think it says a lot about The Cartographers, and how they all band back together, with no hesitation, to help Nell.
Mary: I think this quote is one of my favourites in the book, and it’s a great way to think of maps. In fact, I think there’s a lot of maps I could think of that would bring me closer to my friends. I think the gas station map in particular was a great way to explore how friendships grow and deteriorate over time. It was super interesting to see how this map brought them together, and then ultimately broke them apart. I think, for me, the most fascinating part was seeing how they each got attached to the map in different ways. I found Walley’s obsession with it the most fascinating, because it got so intense so quickly. Seeing how that then changed the group dynamic was super cool. I often wonder how things would’ve changed had he not become obsessed, and whether or not events would have played out the same.
Question 5: The gas station map is a very important part of the group dynamics in The Cartographers, do you and your friends have an item as important? Or, if you had to choose one, what would it be?
Caitlyn: Oh gosh, I truly cannot think of anything that my friends and I have any items that are as important as the gas station map is to The Cartographers, and thank goodness for that. Something special that I had with some friends back in high school, was when I was in the musical Annie Get Your Gun, my friends and I would pass my script back and forth and we had a blank page that was filled with funny quotes from the rehearsal process, and another blank page where we just conversed back and forth. We did this with quite a few other shows, and I still have those scripts as that time meant so much to me.
Cossette: I don’t think I have an item in my life that’s as dangerously life-altering as the gas station map (and thank goodness), but I think that something really meaningful that I share with some friends is a “friend journal” that we would pass back and forth during quarantine.
Mary: I’m unsure of this counts, but my group of friends and I have a running joke called mental health chai. It all started due to my own obsession with chai lattes, but I started attaching ‘mental health’ to the front of it because I would often drink them when I had a bad day, and it just stuck! I like to call us the mental health chai club, and it’s super funny how quickly it spread throughout the group. On another note, I personally have things that are special from my friends. For example, one of my most cherished possessions is an annotated copy of my favourite book that my best friend gifted me. It brings me a lot of comfort, and a lot of joy, so I would say that’s very important.
Question 6: The events in The Cartographers happen over a span of a few days, how did you find the pacing of this novel? Do you think it worked? Do you think it would have benefited from being paced out more?
Caitlyn: I felt that the pacing worked really well! Everything that happens in The Cartographers is at a heightened state, and I thought that the pacing reflected that. Additionally, I love dual timelines, so I was a huge fan of that and thought that it had a positive impact on the overall trajectory of the book.
Cossette: I think that the events in The Cartographer were paced fine! I think that the differing timelines made it feel like more time had passed, and so to me, I think it worked.
Mary: I liked the pacing of The Cartographers! I think it was great to see everything come together, and have everything unfold more slowly. It almost felt like the unfolding of a map, which I think was super fitting. I think the additions of the alternative timeline chapters helped the pacing, and I loved how the book progressed as a whole.
Thank you so much for reading our discussion questions, and answering them alongside us! We hope you enjoyed this book as much as we did, and we will see you next month, where we will be discussing THE HEARTBREAK BAKERY!
