The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles

 

Main Characters
Emmett Watson	Billy Watson – 8 yrs.	Duchess Hewett	Woolly	Sally	Ulysses - hobo
Accidentally killed Jimmy Snyder – sent to Salina   Father - deceased Mother – ran away to California?	Professor Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers – read 24 times   Stickler for rules	Abandoned at orphanage by father, Harry Hewett   Framed by father and Fitzy and sent to Salina	Sarah and “Dennis” Whitney– sister and brother-in-law, in charge of Woolly’s money   Kaitlin - sister   Trust fund in safe in upstate New York	Sent Emmett food and gifts to Salina   Father bought Watson farm	Macie – wife Son   Saved Billy from Pastor John

 

Other Characters

Sister Agnes – orphanage   Townhouse – Duchess got him in trouble at Salina and he got double the punishment Maurice - cousin   Pastor John – attacked Billy twice, tried to steal silver dollars   Stew – hobo, hit Pastor John and saved Ulysses and Billy   Abacus Abernathe – author, followed Ulysses

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Pages are from hardback edition of novel.

1.       Why do all of the main characters have at least two double letters in their names?  Do you think this is significant?

2.       Woolly’s brother-in-law is always referred to as “Dennis.”  Why did the author put his name in quotes?  What did that signal to you, the reader?

3.       Did you understand why Emmett felt guilty about Jimmy’s death?  Jimmy provoked him and his death was an accident.

4.       Sally continued to make her own preserves long after she could have bought them at the grocery store.  She explained that she did it because “it’s time-consuming…it’s old-fashioned…it’s unnecessary” (pages 103-104).  She thought this was all related to kindness, “the performance of an act that is both beneficial to another and unrequired” (page 104).  Is this a good definition of kindness?  What acts of kindness did you see in the novel?

5.       Did you understand Ulysses’ shame about not enlisting, even though his job was “essential?”  Why couldn’t Macie understand this and why did she leave him when he enlisted?

6.       Abacus told Ulysses his life was an echo of the Great Ulysses and he was sure he would be reunited with Macie and his son after ten years.  He also told him he needed an act of tribute like the Great Ulysses and that he should carry a railroad spike “to the place where someone is so unfamiliar with the railways that they ask you what it is, and on that spot, you should hammer it into the ground” (page 425).  What was the point of that?

7.       Sister Agnes preached that, considering the wrongs done to us and the wrongs that we do, “the only way to get a good night’s sleep is to balance the accounts” (page 92).  How is this an important to the flow of the novel?

8.       Following Sister Agnes’s thoughts, Duchess did not feel guilty about hitting Cowboy (page 94), hitting retired Warden Acklerlys with a skillet (page 236), finding Fitzy (page 273), and then he let Townhouse hit him (page 305).  Did you understand Duchess’ motivation?  Do you think the actions made him feel better about himself?

9.       How does breaking into the orphanage, locking the nun’s in their rooms, and giving the boys jars of Sally’s jam and spoons fit into the philosophy of balancing accounts?  In the same vein, do you think Duchess should then feel guilty about stealing Emmett’s car?

10.   What did you think about the ending and the fates of Woolly and Duchess?  Do you think Emmett expected what happened to Duchess?

11.   Do you have memories of stopping at Howard Johnson’s on trips and their placemats?

12.   What scenes do you think you will remember?  I think I will remember Emmett’s shame and Sarah’s graciousness about the wine-stained napkins and Emmett taking her medicine bottle from Woolly’s bedside so she does not know her medicine contributed to his death.  Also, Billy’s refusal to hide during the school safety and how Sally came to his defense and he was then named the monitor as well as Sally’s declaration that she was going with them to California not to keep their house, but to on her own where “all the cooking and cleaning that I’ll be doing is for me” (page 528).

13.   Why did the author blacken out the end of Ulysses’ and Pastor John’s stories on pages 332 and 337?

14.   Billy told Ulysses he was not named after Ulysses S. Grant, but after the Great Ulysses who was cursed to wander the seas.  When Billy was reading to Ulysses, he asked Billy to read the story about the Great Ulysses for the second time.  The author wrote that the second time, Ulysses “didn’t hear it the same way” (page 324).  Have you had the experience of reading something for the second time and having a different reading experience?

15.   If you read this book twice, did you understand it or appreciate it differently the second time compared to the first?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V. E. Schwab

 

Characters
Addie - July 29, 1714 - 2014	Henry – September 4, 2013 - 2014
1714 Adeline “Addie” LaRue Mother and Father – woodcarver, carved Addie’s wooden ring used to call Luc Estelle – neighbor Isabelle – friend   “The Darkness” – Lucifer, Luc – visited Addie on anniversary many years Deal – more time, a life of freedom, he can have her soul when she doesn’t want it any more   1724 Remy Laurent – met Addie when she was disguised as a man   1751 Madame Geoffrin – invited Addie to her salon Remy Laurent   1806, Venice – Matteo, artist   2014 – Toby Marsh – song writer and singer	Henry Strauss David – brother, doctor Muriel - sister   Deal with Lucifer – wants to be loved, wants to be enough, deal only for one year
March 10, 2014 – September 5, 2014
Addie   Henry   Luc, Lucifer   The Last Word Bookstore Bea – works in store, graduate student “Book” - cat   Robbie - actor

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: The page numbers are from the special edition of the hardback.

1.       Discuss how the devil was depicted in the novel. 

2.       In 2014, Luc tells Addie to pick someone at random to take Henry’s place and she does.   Would she have done this earlier in her life?  How has she changed over the 300 years?

3.       Many real people were mentioned in the book – Beethoven, Sinatra, Joan of Arc.   He told Addie he had made a deal with Joan of Arc, “A soul for a blessed sword, so that she could not be struck down” (page 351). Was the author implying that the other famous people had made a deal with the devil?

4.       The author used the work palimpsest (pal-imp-sest) several times.  The meaning given in the novel  is “the idea of the past blotted out, written over by the present” (page 78).  Did you ever hear the word before?  How does it apply to Addie’s life as well as others in the novel?

5.       Of the various things Addie could or could not do – lie but not tell the truth, say her name, never be remembered by anyone she met, never age, never have any long-lasting injuries – which do you think would be the hardest to adapt to?

6.       Addie is never able to say her name or tell it to anyone.  How important is being recognized by our name? 

7.       Do you think the book has a deeper message that just a creative fiction story?  For example, Addie describes human love to Luc as “It was messy.  It was hard.  It was wonderful, and strange, and frightening, and fragile – so fragile it hurt – and worth every single moment” (page 427).

8.       Also, Addie has a conversation with Remy in 1724 about value in life.  She asks him, “Do you think a life has any value if one doesn’t leave some mark upon the world?” and he answers, “’There are many ways to matter’…These are the words of a man – Voltaire.  But they are also the hands that set the type” (page 179).

9.       In in same vein, in December 2013, Bea has a conversation with Henry about what is happiness.  He asks her, “is it just feeling happy for no reason?   Or is it making other people happy?  Is it being happy with your job, or your life, or-” and she replies, “I guess I just mean I’d want to be happy with myself.  Satisfied” (page 290).  How do you think each character would define happiness?

10.   The special edition of the book contained seven pictures and descriptions of artwork influenced by Addie over the years including a song released in 2014 by Toby Marsh that Addie played for him. If your book did not contain these, do you think they would have added to your reading experience and enhanced their importance?

11.   Discuss your reading experience.  Did you find the format hard to follow or not?