We Begin at the End, by Chris Whitaker

 

Characters

Radley family: Star – mother Duchess Robin Sissy – Star’s sister, killed by driver as a young child 30 years ago   Vincent King – driver who hit Sissy, Duchess and Robin’s father, in prison   Chief Walker “Walk”   Hal – Duchess and Robin’s grandfather   Dickie Darke – developer Madeline – daughter, in private health care facility, no hope of leaving   Milton – butcher, lived across the street from Star and family, spied on Star, drowned   Brandon Rock – neighborhood watch, lived on street with Star and Milton, pushed Milton out of the boat as a joke   Martha May – Star’s friend in school, lawyer in Bitterwater, family law   Cuddy – prison warden   Dolly – sat with Duchess in church   Thomas Noble – in Duchess’ class, crippled hand   Peter and Lucy Layton – adopted Robin, only wanted one child so did not adopt Duchess

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2020 paperback edition.

1.      Did you understand Vincent – in prison he confessed to killing a fellow prisoner in a fight when he could have called it self-defense?  In the second trial he did not want to just plead guilty and get life in prison, he wanted to go to trial and maybe get the death penalty.

2.      How did you think the accident killing Sissy occurred?  Was the sentence unusually hard for a 15-year-old?  At the trial, it said that Walk “offered up the kind of unabridged truth that sealed his friend’s fate” (page 22).  What did he say?

3.      As you read, particularly pages 82 – 83 where Walk found Vincent sitting in chair beside Star’s body, what did you think happened to Star?

4.      Did you understand Duchess’ reaction to Hal and to moving in with him?  Was there anything Hal or anyone could do to make the move easier for her?

5.      Why did Duchess insist on wearing the new dress that she ripped and cut?

6.      Do you think Duchess will ever eventually reconnect with Robin?  Did she make the best choice to let him be adopted without her? 

7.      Do you think Robin will ever remember what happened with his mother?   Should someone have helped him remember as opposed to risking him remembering later on his own?

8.      Who did you think shot Hal?  When she was approaching the porch, Duchess noticed big footprints in the snow.

9.      After Duchess burnt down the bar she threw away the security tape in a garbage bag in a random bunch of garbage (page 70).   Then at the end on pages 345-346 Walk found the tape in a storage locker owned by Darke but among items owned by Dee Lane.  How was this possible?

10.  In the end Darke confessed to Walke that he shot Hal.  Then Walke shot Darke at his request because he could not get insurance for the club without the security tape and was unable to pay for Madeline’s care.  If dead she would get his life insurance policy.  Walke gave Darke his (Darke’s) gun, Darke aimed wide and shot, and then Walke killed Darke.  Were you surprised at this event?

11.  At the end of the novel, Duchess was going to shoot Vincent (pages 350-351), but instead he backed up to the cliff and jumped.  Were you also surprised at this event?

12.  When Duchess was talking with her mother on the way home from the bar, Duchess said, “I just wish there was a middle, you know. Because that’s where people live. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing…sink or swim like that…Because when you’re sinking, you’re pulling us down with you” (page 42).  Do you agree – do most people just live in the middle?   Do you think Star was capable of making a change in her life?

13.  The title was in the text multiple times.  For example, when Walk took the children to Hal’s he said, “The minister said we begin at the end” (page 97).  Also, when Hal was shot, Duchess got the shotgun, saddled the gray horse and set out the follow the footprints.  As she did so she said, “We begin at the end” (page 224).  What did you think the title meant?

14.  Discuss your reading experience.  Did you like the book?  Would you recommend it to a friend?