Confessions

Content Warning: Confessions depicts extreme bullying, child abuse, murder, mental health crises, a bombing, and murder-suicide. The text contains some stigmatizing language surrounding HIV/AIDS and the misgendering of a character; this guide reproduces such language only through quotations.

Choose a character who exacts revenge in Confessions. Does the novel justify their revenge? How so? What does their character arc suggest about the nature of revenge?

What is the relationship between media and crime in the novel? Which characters seek this relationship, and why?

What is the significance of Kiyomi Shitamura’s narration in Chapter 3? How does her perspective add to or alter the characterization of other members of the Shitamura family?