I pawed for keys and pushed myself up the three steps. I fiddled with the keys, tap water, shoes off. I was now home.
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
At ten thirty in the evening, WWF’s flagship television program, Raw, aired a short montage tribute to the passing of Randy Savage. As the announcers set up the clip, I Skyped Mom and told her to flip around and find Raw. Combining clips with a voice-over and a song by Coldplay, the production was slick and colourfully vibrant.
When it ended, my mom turned her gaze back to me and said, "I liked the shots of the children smiling in the crowd."
The children’s pale arms with fist pumping and throats cheering, eyes excited and alit in sugary delight, was as memorable as anything in the montage. Those cheers, twenty-three, twenty-four years old, were preserved in their anonymous and raw honesty.
"It was sweet," Mom surmised.
"Gotta big day tomorrow. I should get to bed."
"OK, sweet dreams."
"You too."
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR BOOK CLUBS
1. Chapter 1 is titled "Bizarre Love Triangle." What connections can you see in Nate’s relationships and friendships to the song title?
2. Does Holly have a positive influence on Nate and his anxiety around most people? She is inclusive with her friendships around Nate, but do you think this causes him to withdraw from other chances of making friends?
3. The polarity between Nate and his father’s brash and stubborn nature cause their conflicts to remain unresolved. Do you think Nate’s submissive nature changed as he grew weary of his father?
4. In regard to the chapter titled "True Faith," do you think Nate holds a sort of faith in his friendship with Andrew? Is it a false faith that is perhaps not reciprocated?
5. Why do you think Nate so readily accepts Andrew’s aggressive assertion and, at times, what seems like bullying?
6. How do you think Philip and Sandra’s homophobic insults influence Andrew and Nate? Do you think it offends them or makes them more paranoid?
7. Do you think Nate feels like he has to be protective of his mother when his father gets violent, or does he look to her as a protective maternal figure?
8. Do you think Nate’s mother called in the therapist because of a genuine concern for her son, or was Nate right to feel victimized?
9. What does the poem that follows "Round & Round" (Chapter 4), titled "The Phantom Cousin" reveal about Nate?
10. Why do you think Nate felt "somehow relieved" when leaving Andrew’s place after their big fight?
11. Describe Holly and Nate’s relationship dynamic as siblings and then as friends.
12. Does Nate’s seemingly purposeful self-alienation in his school life and home life make him a more likeable or sympathetic character?
13. Nate seems to place Andrew on a pedestal, and it’s definitely not reciprocated. Is there something you can predict about the friendship?
14. Why was Nate so set on attempting to pursue university against the wishes of his family and therapists?
15. Why does Nate fixate on the Menendez case? How does his description of the murder case and trial relate to his own family drama?
16. What does Nate’s attachment to his analog camcorder say about his aptitude for communication? What does the accidental breaking of the camcorder represent?
17. Why do you think that Andrew has such a profound effect on Nate for so much of his life? What could have happened if their relationship had continued?
18. Why do you think Nate accepts disrespect from the people he meets in life?
19. Later on in the novel, in Part III, what does Nate’s and his mother’s game of phone tag represent in their relationship?
20. Does the fact that Nate manages to find a job in Toronto help his hopeless view on life, family and careers?
21. Does the family dynamic get better or worse, and in what way, when Nate’s mother and father live separately?
22. Why do you think Holly could remain so level-headed among the family drama, while Nate has a harder time balancing his relationships? Is it disruptive to how the sibling dynamic played out?
23. Describe what Elizabeth’s death represented for both Holly and Nate.
24. What changes in Nate when he finds out that Randy Savage has passed away?
25. How does Toronto as a setting add to or detract from the story? Does it make is more "real"? Can you feel the main character’s connection to the city?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nathaniel G. Moore is the author of five books, including Wrong Bar, nominated for the 2010 ReLit Award for best novel, and Let’s Pretend We Never Met, which the Georgia Straight called “breathtaking.” His fiction has appeared in subTerrain, Joyland, Taddle Creek and Verbicide Magazine, and he’s written for Bravo TV in the short film Sahara Sahara. A frequent contributor to Open Book: Toronto, the The Globe & Mail and This Magazine, Moore lives in Toronto.
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