Talking God offers many avenues for discussion. The most popular avenue is likely to be the issue of archaeological study of human remains, especially those belonging to existing peoples. To avoid having the discussion becoming a simplistic good-guy-bad-guy argument, a discussion group might look into actual archaeological practices. For instance, some readers might be surprised to discover that archaeologists do in fact dig up the remains of early New England settlers; the cultural conflict might not be one of insensitive archaeologists versus native peoples, but a more profound disagreement over how human remains of any sort should be treated.

1. Chee's romantic life is complicated. What does it add to the novel?

2. What does the title signify? 3. The issue of plundered Native American remains is a real one. Some remains were returned to Native American tribes. When did this happen?

How was it done? Were the remains...