1. Lost Canyon opens with two very different epigrams. What do they mean? How do they relate to each other—or not? What do they suggest about the book? 2. What compels Gwen, Oscar, Todd, and Tracy to go on their trip to the Sierra? Are they driven by the same reasons? Different ones? What are […]
1. How do you like Merryn’s voice as the narrator of the story? How does being inside Merryn’s mind help you understand her relationship with her mother? 2. How did you react to knowing what Merryn was thinking, then seeing her say or do something to conceal what she was thinking? Were there moments when […]
1. What are some key details in the early chapters that lead readers to believe Turnbull is a poor town? 2. What does the narrator’s description of each parents’ reaction to their children attending the evictions say about the three main characters and their upbringing? 3. Why do the kids object so strongly to Motor […]
1. At times, Sarah loves painting. Other times, she finds it excruciating and humiliating. Why is she so compelled to paint? Why does she finally stop? Will she start again? 2. After a brief stint as an international pop star, Maya gives up singing to concentrate on real estate. Why? How does Sarah get her […]
1. Lily feels safest in her room, and yet it isolates her with her visions and fears. Why does she feel safe there? What is she afraid of? What is YOUR safe place like? 2. It is not uncommon for children to have an imaginary playmate. How is Jesus different? . . .Do you find […]
1. Have you ever wished you could wake up as somebody else? If you could be another person for a day, what kind of person would you choose to be? Why? 2. What if you could live as another person for a whole year? Who would you be, and why? What do you think you […]
1. What conventions of genre qualify this book as noir? What elements make it literary fiction? 2. Who is the most interesting and sympathetic character in the novel and why? 3. What opposing views of human nature do the characters hold and whose view, in your opinion, is the most defensible? 4. How does setting […]
CHARACTER 1. Nat and her little brother, Sam, live in a setting that’s at once more sheltered and more dangerous than the lives many American teenagers lead now. How have they responded to this dramatic dichotomy in their lives? 2. Have the siblings’ responses to their world been similar or dissimilar, and if so how? […]