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Getting It Right
Half-sisters Kara and Alex—one the biracial product of foster care, the other of dysfunctional privilege—struggle for redemption and forgiveness.
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Discussion Guide for Getting It Right
1. Courage, tenacity, follow-through, the ability to bounce back in face of adversity, striving for excellence—these are all elements of resilience and grit. To what extent do Kara and Alex demonstrate resilience and grit? Do other characters demonstrate grit? Who and how so?
2. There are many stories in the papers and perhaps in your community about families adopting children from Asian countries and Russia. Yet children in the US grow up in foster care, never enjoying being part of a family. What are your thoughts and feelings about our adoption and foster care systems?
3. Sexual, physical, and verbal abuses are hard topics to write or read about. Did you find anything surprising about how their past abuse affected Kara and her foster siblings? To what degree did it surprise you that the three friends never spoke about the abuse?
4. People often discuss PTSD in terms of returning soldiers. How did you react to Kara’s diagnosis and experiences?
5. Kara and Alex’s father wants to “make things right.” In your experience, can someone make up for past transgressions? What if the mistakes from the past did permanent damage to a child or a young person—does that change your answer?
6. Do you believe Worth Lawrence redeems himself? Who else in Getting It Right seeks redemption? Did he or she achieve it?
7. What role does race play in this novel?
8. To what degree do Kara’s feelings about her race affect her choices?
9. How are definitions of race changing in today’s society?
10. Like race, the definition of family is changing rapidly in this country and in the world. What are your thoughts about the definition of family?
11. How do Kara and Alex’s definitions of family change during the course of the story?