Reading Group Guide and Discussion Topics
What poem, quote, or song lyrics have been very important to you for personal healing or personal growth — words that made you feel understood and gave you strength, as if the writer has been where you are, so you feel less alone in the world?
(Olsen and Mary each have a poem like this in their lives.)
Where are you right now on your spiritual journey? Where has your journey taken you in the past (a low point or high point)?
(Olsen, Mary, Virgil, and Ben are each at different points in their own spiritual journeys and move forward or backward during the story.)
Being an “outsider” and being an “insider.”
(Every character in the book struggles with this issue. Some of them look like “insiders” who are sitting on top of the world, yet they secretly feel like outsiders. Old Mr. McCormick, on the other hand, is an outsider and likes it that way!)
Hiding our shame and our secrets. Finding the right people to confide in. Confiding in God.
(This is a central issue for all the characters in the book.)
The meaning of “family.” Someone once said, “What is a family? They’re the people who make you feel less alone and really loved.”
(Family is a central issue for all the characters.)
Do you have a hobby, sport, music, or other gift or talent that’s been a saving grace in your life?
(Olsen and Ben have basketball, old Mr. McCormick has his garden, Mary has reading and Sunday School teaching.)
Doing the right thing. Doing the right thing for our children’s sake. Doing the right thing even when nobody’s watching.
(This is the key conflict between Olsen and Mary, and also a key theme of the story.)
We have free will, so the door to your future is always open. Where do you want to go next in your journey?
(At the end of the book, the door to the future is wide open; the next steps in faith are up to Olsen.)