1. Dr. Ustinov tells Keri, "your daughter is bipolar" (p. 25). Consider the terms in which Dr. Ustinov presents Trina's illness to Kerri (p. 29); his approach is purely factual, while hers is psychological and filled with guilt. Does Keri begin to lose her guilt about Trina's illness as the novel proceeds, or does she continue to feel that in some sense, it's "always Mommy's fault" (p. 30)?
2. Friendships between women are important in this novel. What kinds of support and strength do women offer each other? Discuss examples of the loyalty and love shared between female characters in the story.
3. How does Keri's history with her mother's alcoholism affect her approach to Trina's illness? In what ways is Keri's refusal to forgive her mother understandable, and in what ways does she refuse to realize that her mother might also consider to have a brain disease? How does Keri eventually make the choice to let her mother back into her life?
4. In what ways does 72 Hour Hold help readers question the phenomenon that having a perfect child (high-achieving, popular, talented, beautiful, etc.) contributes really to a parent's self esteem and social status? Does Keri eventually let go of these? If so, how?
5. What is the effect of Campbell's frequent use of the metaphor of slavery ( its images, its terrors, its punishing psychology) throughout the novel? See, for instance, page 3 ("the hounds are tracking you") and page 28 ("I embarked on my own Middle Passage that night, marching backward, ankles shackled"). If Keri's experience with her daughter's mental illness is like the experience of slavery, does the novel yield any sense of liberation from this condition? How does Keri's relationship with Orlando differ from her relationship with Clyde? At a moment of extreme crisis in the story, it seems as though Keri will get back together with Clyde. Why does she ultimately choose Orlando instead?
6. Just as Keri has to accept her daughter's illness, Orlando has to accept P.J.'s homosexuality. Why is this so devastating for Orlando? Does the description of the household Keri and Orlando share at the end of the novel suggest that both Keri and Orlando are at peace with their children?
7. What is the significance of Keri's skill as a masseuse in her approach to healing both herself and Trina? Why is this mode of touching so important to the bond between the two of them?
8. The segment of the novel that describes the intervention, which involves a road trip and a good deal of suspense, adds an element of adventure to this story of family tragedy. what is the effect of these chapters, and how does Campbell make them such compelling reading?
9. Karl, the intervention leader, is the child of a mother who was mentally ill. what do his and Keri's family histories tell us about the kinds of damage done by untreated mental illness? In what ways can keri and Karl be seen as overcompensating
10. How does this novel open up the inside world of families dealing with severe mental illness? What did you find surprising about the story?
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Grown Folks Business
Please take a minute to answer one or all of the questions listed below. You could also just write your reaction to the story.
1. Sheridan and Quentin seemed to have such a good marriage as the author explained during Sheridan's struggle of dealing with her husband leaving her, Why do you think Quentin really held onto his secret so long?
2. Do you feel that Sheridan handled her situation well? Do you feel that there are alternative ways that she could have handled the bomb that her husband dropped on her in the beginning of the story?
3. Why do you think that Christopher struggled so hard to deal with the separtion of his parents?
4. Do you believe that Quentin could have handled the situation better, or do you think he did the best that he could under the circumstances?
5. If this happened to you, how would you have handled the news that you husband was sleeping with or in love with someone else, specifically another man?
6. Do you think that it was possible for Quentin to still be a good role model for his children?
7. What were some of the stages of healing that Sheridan went through during the course of this story?
8. Is it realistic to believe that Sharidan could truly forgive Quentin for the emotion turmoil that he put his family through?
9. What was the Irony behind Christopher and his new found friends?
10. During the course of the story, how do you feel the separtaion and news of Quentin being gay affected Christopher and Tori?
11. Why do you think Tori reacted so differently to the situation than christopher?
12. If you were in this situation, would you allow your children to still be around their father and his lover?
13. Why do you think Sheridan began to lose faith in the Lord during this process?
14. Do you think that Sheridan should have tried a little harder to hold on to Quentin?
15. What are your overall reactions to this book?
1. Sheridan and Quentin seemed to have such a good marriage as the author explained during Sheridan's struggle of dealing with her husband leaving her, Why do you think Quentin really held onto his secret so long?
2. Do you feel that Sheridan handled her situation well? Do you feel that there are alternative ways that she could have handled the bomb that her husband dropped on her in the beginning of the story?
3. Why do you think that Christopher struggled so hard to deal with the separtion of his parents?
4. Do you believe that Quentin could have handled the situation better, or do you think he did the best that he could under the circumstances?
5. If this happened to you, how would you have handled the news that you husband was sleeping with or in love with someone else, specifically another man?
6. Do you think that it was possible for Quentin to still be a good role model for his children?
7. What were some of the stages of healing that Sheridan went through during the course of this story?
8. Is it realistic to believe that Sharidan could truly forgive Quentin for the emotion turmoil that he put his family through?
9. What was the Irony behind Christopher and his new found friends?
10. During the course of the story, how do you feel the separtaion and news of Quentin being gay affected Christopher and Tori?
11. Why do you think Tori reacted so differently to the situation than christopher?
12. If you were in this situation, would you allow your children to still be around their father and his lover?
13. Why do you think Sheridan began to lose faith in the Lord during this process?
14. Do you think that Sheridan should have tried a little harder to hold on to Quentin?
15. What are your overall reactions to this book?
Venting Room
Please feel free to talk about what ever in this room. If you have any new events that you want to let others know about, here is where you can post them.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Black and Ugly
Please post your comments here for the book Black and Ugly by T. Styles. Usually there would be a series of questions, but for this book there are only two questions:
1. Describe the self-esteem of Parade. Give examples of how she allowed the opinions and degrading remarks of her mother and so called friend Sky to alter her perception of herself.
2. How did this book make you feel afterwards? Could you relate to one of the characters, and if so, how?
1. Describe the self-esteem of Parade. Give examples of how she allowed the opinions and degrading remarks of her mother and so called friend Sky to alter her perception of herself.
2. How did this book make you feel afterwards? Could you relate to one of the characters, and if so, how?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Cake Man
Here are the questions for The Cake Man
1. Describe how King made it inevitable for Chris to enter the game?
2. Explain the Irony of King announcing to his wife that he was getting out of the drug life, and then getting busted by the Feds the very next day.
3. Why do you think that Chris really made the decision to start selling drugs versus getting a legitimate job?
4. What can we learn from the experiences that women had with Ali and Chino?
5. Why do you think Gregory saved Ali and Chino until the end of the story?
6. How did Chris let the game take him out of his normal hook-up?
1. Describe how King made it inevitable for Chris to enter the game?
2. Explain the Irony of King announcing to his wife that he was getting out of the drug life, and then getting busted by the Feds the very next day.
3. Why do you think that Chris really made the decision to start selling drugs versus getting a legitimate job?
4. What can we learn from the experiences that women had with Ali and Chino?
5. Why do you think Gregory saved Ali and Chino until the end of the story?
6. How did Chris let the game take him out of his normal hook-up?
7. Why do you think that Jasmine opted to help Chris get on top and stay on top?
8. Explain how Chris and Jasmine's relationship was similar to that of his mother's and father's relationship.
9. Discuss how the book transitions from first person to second person through out the story.
10. How realistic do you feel the ending of this book was? Do you think that it accurately depicts what happens in real life to brothers who choose this particular lifestyle?
11. What other comments do you have regarding this book?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Act Like A Lady-Think Like A Man
Here are the questions for Steve Harvey's book. Please feel free to post your comments here.
1. What specific kind of man are you looking for?
2. How do you expect to be persued? Do you want regular phone calls?
Text messages? Dates at least three times a week? Do you want him to
always pick up the tab?
3. What level of commitment do you expect? Do you want an open
relationship? Or to date exclusively? Should it be up for discussion?
4. What kind of financial security do you expect this man to have? Do
you want him to be rich? Do you want him to make more money than
you? Are you okay with a blue-collar worker?
5. Do you want a man who wants kids and is family oriented?
6. Does he have to be religious/spiritual?
7. Do you mind if he's divorced or has kids?
8. Can you help a man build his dream? Can you adapt to his plan?
9. What do you expect of his family? Should you get along with his
mother? Do you care if he doesn't get along with her? Or if his father
was never around?
10. What should he be willing to do to woo you? Should he persue you?
Give you expensive gifts?
11. What are your tru feelings about this book? Do you feel that it has
helped you to anaylze relationships better?
12. What are your perceptions regarding how men need to be treated?
13. Do you feel that there are double standards when it comes to
adapting to the need, wants, and dreams of a man?
14. After reading this book, do you feel confident about your current or
next relationship?
15. Do you feel that Steve's advise provided you with armor and
ammunition for dealing with men on another level?
16. How do you think that you could have implemented some of the
strategies that Steve laid out in past relationships?
17. If you could only take one point from this book to utilize in your next
relationship, which point would that be?
18. How does it make you feel to know that men aren't really
interested in you if they don't have their three essential needs lined
up "who they are, what they do, and how much they make"?
19. How did reading this book change your perspective on dating?
20. Do you think you fit into the category of a keeper, or a sports fish?
1. What specific kind of man are you looking for?
2. How do you expect to be persued? Do you want regular phone calls?
Text messages? Dates at least three times a week? Do you want him to
always pick up the tab?
3. What level of commitment do you expect? Do you want an open
relationship? Or to date exclusively? Should it be up for discussion?
4. What kind of financial security do you expect this man to have? Do
you want him to be rich? Do you want him to make more money than
you? Are you okay with a blue-collar worker?
5. Do you want a man who wants kids and is family oriented?
6. Does he have to be religious/spiritual?
7. Do you mind if he's divorced or has kids?
8. Can you help a man build his dream? Can you adapt to his plan?
9. What do you expect of his family? Should you get along with his
mother? Do you care if he doesn't get along with her? Or if his father
was never around?
10. What should he be willing to do to woo you? Should he persue you?
Give you expensive gifts?
11. What are your tru feelings about this book? Do you feel that it has
helped you to anaylze relationships better?
12. What are your perceptions regarding how men need to be treated?
13. Do you feel that there are double standards when it comes to
adapting to the need, wants, and dreams of a man?
14. After reading this book, do you feel confident about your current or
next relationship?
15. Do you feel that Steve's advise provided you with armor and
ammunition for dealing with men on another level?
16. How do you think that you could have implemented some of the
strategies that Steve laid out in past relationships?
17. If you could only take one point from this book to utilize in your next
relationship, which point would that be?
18. How does it make you feel to know that men aren't really
interested in you if they don't have their three essential needs lined
up "who they are, what they do, and how much they make"?
19. How did reading this book change your perspective on dating?
20. Do you think you fit into the category of a keeper, or a sports fish?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Kindred
Here are the discussion questions for Kindred. Please feel free to post you comments about the book here.
1. Both Kevin and Dana know that they can't change history. They say: "We're in the middle of history. We surely can't change it" (p100); and "It's over....There's nothing you can do to change any of it now" (p264). What, then, is the purpose of Dana's travels back to the antebellum South? Why must you, the reader, experience this journey with Dana?
2. How would the story have been different with a third-person narrator?
3. Many of the characters in Kindred resist classification. In what ways does Dana explode the slave stereotypes of the "house-nigger, the handkerchief-head, the female Uncle Tom" (p145)? In what ways does she transcend them?
4. Despite Dana's determination to refuse the "mammy" role in the Weylin household, she finds herself caught by it: "I felt like Sarah, cautioning" (p156). Others see her as the mammy as well: "'You sound just like Sarah'" (p159). How, if at all, does Dana reconcile her conscious efforts with her behavior? How would you reconcile them?
5. "I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery." Dana says this to Kevin when they have returned to the present and are discussing their experiences in the antebellum South. Do we also in the twenty-first century still have conditioned responses to slavery?
6. How do you think Butler confronts us with issues of difference in Kindred? How does she challenge us to consider boundaries of black/white, master/slave. husband/wife, past/present? What other differences does she convolute? Do you think such dichotomies are flexible? Artificial? Useful?
7. Compare Tom Weylin and Rufus Weylin. Is Rufus an improvement over his father? How, if at all, is Dana's influence evident on the adult Rufus?
8. Of the slaves' attitude toward Rufus, Dana observes, "Strangely, they seemed to like him, hold him in contempt, and fear him all at the same time" (p229). How can they feel these contradictory emotions? How would you feel toward Rufus if you were in their situation?
9. Compare Dana's "professional" life in the present (i.e., her temporary work) with her life as a slave.
10. When Dana and Kevin return from the past together, she thinks: "I felt as though I were losing my place here in my own time. Rufus's time was a sharper, stronger reality" (p191). Why would the twentieth century seem less vivid to Dana than the nineteenth century?
11. Dana loses her left arm as she emerges-for the last time in the novel-from the past. Why is this significant?
12. Kevin is stranded in the past for five years, while Dana is there for less than one year. Why did Butler feel Kevin needed to stay in the past so much longer than Dana? How have their experiences affected their relationship to each other and to the world around them?
13. A common trend in the time travels of science fiction assumes that one should not tamper with the past, lest you disrupt the present. Butler obviously ignores this theory and her characters continue to invade each other's lives. How does this influence the movement of the narrative? How does it convolute the idea of cause and effect?
14. Dana finds herself caught in the middle of the relationship between Rufus and Alice. Why does Rufus use Dana to get Alice? Does Alice also use Dana?
15. The needs and well-being of other residents of the plantation create a web of obligation that is difficult to navigate. Choose a specific incident and determine who holds power over whom; assess how it affects that situation.
16. Dana states: "It was that destructive single-minded love of his. He loved me. Not the way he loved Alice, thank God. He didn't seem to want to sleep with me. But he wanted me around-someone to talk to, someone who would listen to him and care about what he said..." (p180). How does the relationship between Dana and Rufus develop? How does it change? What are the different levels of love portrayed in Kindred?
17. Discuss the ways in which the title encapsulates the relationships within the novel. Is it ironic? Literal? Metaphorical? What emphasis do we place on our own kinship? How does it compare with that of the novel?
18. Do you believe that Dana and Kevin's story actually happened, or did they simply get caught up in the nostalgia of examining old papers and books? How would their situation's significance have changed in Dana's and Kevin's lives if it had been imaginary? If it were merely nostalgia or an imagined situation, how would that change your perception of the antebellum South and the treatment of slaves? Would that make the events less significant?
19. Butler opens the novel with the conclusion of Dana's time travels. The final pages of the book, however, make up an epilogue that once again demonstrates a linearly progressive movement of time. How does the epilogue serve to disrupt the rhythm of the narrative?
20. After returning from his years in the nineteenth century, Kevin had attained "a slight accent" (p190). Is this alteration symbolic of greater changes to come? How do you imagine Kevin and Dana's relationship will progress following their reentry into life in 1976?
1. Both Kevin and Dana know that they can't change history. They say: "We're in the middle of history. We surely can't change it" (p100); and "It's over....There's nothing you can do to change any of it now" (p264). What, then, is the purpose of Dana's travels back to the antebellum South? Why must you, the reader, experience this journey with Dana?
2. How would the story have been different with a third-person narrator?
3. Many of the characters in Kindred resist classification. In what ways does Dana explode the slave stereotypes of the "house-nigger, the handkerchief-head, the female Uncle Tom" (p145)? In what ways does she transcend them?
4. Despite Dana's determination to refuse the "mammy" role in the Weylin household, she finds herself caught by it: "I felt like Sarah, cautioning" (p156). Others see her as the mammy as well: "'You sound just like Sarah'" (p159). How, if at all, does Dana reconcile her conscious efforts with her behavior? How would you reconcile them?
5. "I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery." Dana says this to Kevin when they have returned to the present and are discussing their experiences in the antebellum South. Do we also in the twenty-first century still have conditioned responses to slavery?
6. How do you think Butler confronts us with issues of difference in Kindred? How does she challenge us to consider boundaries of black/white, master/slave. husband/wife, past/present? What other differences does she convolute? Do you think such dichotomies are flexible? Artificial? Useful?
7. Compare Tom Weylin and Rufus Weylin. Is Rufus an improvement over his father? How, if at all, is Dana's influence evident on the adult Rufus?
8. Of the slaves' attitude toward Rufus, Dana observes, "Strangely, they seemed to like him, hold him in contempt, and fear him all at the same time" (p229). How can they feel these contradictory emotions? How would you feel toward Rufus if you were in their situation?
9. Compare Dana's "professional" life in the present (i.e., her temporary work) with her life as a slave.
10. When Dana and Kevin return from the past together, she thinks: "I felt as though I were losing my place here in my own time. Rufus's time was a sharper, stronger reality" (p191). Why would the twentieth century seem less vivid to Dana than the nineteenth century?
11. Dana loses her left arm as she emerges-for the last time in the novel-from the past. Why is this significant?
12. Kevin is stranded in the past for five years, while Dana is there for less than one year. Why did Butler feel Kevin needed to stay in the past so much longer than Dana? How have their experiences affected their relationship to each other and to the world around them?
13. A common trend in the time travels of science fiction assumes that one should not tamper with the past, lest you disrupt the present. Butler obviously ignores this theory and her characters continue to invade each other's lives. How does this influence the movement of the narrative? How does it convolute the idea of cause and effect?
14. Dana finds herself caught in the middle of the relationship between Rufus and Alice. Why does Rufus use Dana to get Alice? Does Alice also use Dana?
15. The needs and well-being of other residents of the plantation create a web of obligation that is difficult to navigate. Choose a specific incident and determine who holds power over whom; assess how it affects that situation.
16. Dana states: "It was that destructive single-minded love of his. He loved me. Not the way he loved Alice, thank God. He didn't seem to want to sleep with me. But he wanted me around-someone to talk to, someone who would listen to him and care about what he said..." (p180). How does the relationship between Dana and Rufus develop? How does it change? What are the different levels of love portrayed in Kindred?
17. Discuss the ways in which the title encapsulates the relationships within the novel. Is it ironic? Literal? Metaphorical? What emphasis do we place on our own kinship? How does it compare with that of the novel?
18. Do you believe that Dana and Kevin's story actually happened, or did they simply get caught up in the nostalgia of examining old papers and books? How would their situation's significance have changed in Dana's and Kevin's lives if it had been imaginary? If it were merely nostalgia or an imagined situation, how would that change your perception of the antebellum South and the treatment of slaves? Would that make the events less significant?
19. Butler opens the novel with the conclusion of Dana's time travels. The final pages of the book, however, make up an epilogue that once again demonstrates a linearly progressive movement of time. How does the epilogue serve to disrupt the rhythm of the narrative?
20. After returning from his years in the nineteenth century, Kevin had attained "a slight accent" (p190). Is this alteration symbolic of greater changes to come? How do you imagine Kevin and Dana's relationship will progress following their reentry into life in 1976?
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