by Jesmyn Ward
7. Why does “their mutual animosity” become a “veil” between the twins? Why aren’t they able to overcome it once Joshua begins working at the dock and Christophe starts dealing at the park?
8. When Dunny tries to hide his stash from Christophe (page 144), do you believe Dunny when he says he never smokes it? Is he looking out for Christophe as much as he is for himself?
9. At Javon’s house, Christophe suppresses the “urge he had to walk over to his brother, to wake him, to pull him up and away from Laila and back two months into their world”. Why does Joshua’s love for Laila upset Christophe so much? Why does Joshua think of Christophe as “forsaken”?
10. How does the altercation with Javon and Sandman change Joshua and Christophe’s relationship (page 223)? Why does it affect them so strongly? What do you think happened to Sandman?
11. The novel begins and ends with water. The twins jump into the river at the beginning before graduation (page 1), and at the end they are with Dunny by the river again, fishing (page 235). What is the significance of water throughout the novel? How does it affect Christophe and Joshua?
12. At the hospital, Christophe closes his eyes while he holds his brother’s hand and shrugs, thinking, “His brother, their wounds, Ma-mee dimming like a bulb, his parents’ places unknown and orbiting them like distant moons: it was enough”. What is enough? Is it enough for both Christophe and Joshua?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Ward begins Where the Line Bleeds with a verse from the Bible and lyrics from Pastor Troy’s rap song “Vice Versa.” Listen to the song and read Genesis 25. How do these two references set the stage for the novel?
2. In Greek and Roman mythology, twins Castor and Pollux were transformed into the Gemini constellation when Castor was killed and Pollux asked Zeus to let Pollux share his immortality with his twin to keep them together. Compare Castor and Pollux to Christophe and Joshua. Can you think of other twins in literature with similar narratives?
About the Author
Jesmyn Ward received her MFA from the University of Michigan. She has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow and a John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She is the author of the novels Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones, which each won the National Book Award. She is also the editor of the New York Times bestselling anthology The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race and the author of the memoir Men We Reaped, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize and the Media for a Just Society Award. She received the Stauss Living award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named a fellow by the MacArthur Foundation. She lives in Mississippi with her family.
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ALSO BY JESMYN WARD
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (editor)
Men We Reaped: A Memoir
Salvage the Bones: A Novel
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Jesmyn Ward
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First Scribner trade paperback edition January 2018
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