Range of Motion
Page 18
6. What did you think of the pieces of the narrative told from Jay’s perspective? They tend to be full of fragmented impressions, fleeting observations of things that are occurring in a different world. But Jay also seems vaguely aware of the real-world things happening around him. How do these real-world things become transformed or changed in Jay’s level of consciousness? What do you make of the abstracted, dreamlike quality of his narratives?
7. Lainey describes the gesture of giving Jay a little neck massage as “my love, translated” (this page). How can we apply this idea of love, translated throughout Range of Motion? What are the different ways that love is manifested and translated among the characters? Think of the variety of actions and gestures that reveal the love (or lack thereof) between characters: Lainey and Alice, Alice and Ed, Lainey and her children, and the nursing home employees and residents (Wanda and her patients, and Flozell and his family).
8. Both Alice and Evie seem to ground Lainey, to remind her of and keep her connected to the rhythms of ordinary life, whether in the present (Alice) or in the past (Evie). How do you think the attitudes and personalities of Alice and Evie can be compared or contrasted? How are they alike or different in the ways they affect Lainey and make her feel?
9. Lainey fears that she could go “on and on” with her imaginings of Evie, and wonders if it’s her subconscious playing a trick on her, to get her to pay attention to her basic needs (this page). Do you think Evie really is a projection of Lainey’s subconscious, or, given that Alice has had “a vision of a woman” (this page) too, is there something else going on? Is there some sort of spirit that occupies the house? If so, how might that connect to Jay’s occupying of another level of reality/consciousness—does it hint at some spirit-world that is present throughout everyday life?
10. Jay’s asymptote metaphor (this page) describes the way two lines, or two humans, can come very, very close, but can never quite touch. What does this mean for Lainey’s relationship with Jay? Does it suggest an inescapable longing and separation that exists between them in the physical world? How does this affect your reading of Lainey’s yearning for a “solid line of connection” (this page) between their bodies on the night she sleeps over at the nursing home? And when Jay says that “later, all things would be returned to us” (this page), and hints at the longing being fulfilled, what do you think the “later” refers to?
11. “I know I have a hard time dealing with real life. I know I glorify the past. Alice calls me Nostalgia Woman,” Lainey says (this page). How does this nostalgia affect the way Lainey thinks about and copes with Jay’s coma? Does her bringing him little reminders of their past tie in with this nostalgia? How might these feelings help or hinder Lainey in coping with Jay’s coma?
12. Lainey says that sometimes, sitting beside Jay and “blathering on and on, I get the feeling that my real self has picked up my purse and left” (this page). In what way is Lainey caught between two worlds—the everyday real world, and the world of memory and imagination? If her “real self” gets up and leaves, what part of her is left at Jay’s bedside?
13. Lainey takes comfort in the story about the squirrels shaking the water from trees: “It suggests that there is a reason for everything, even though it may not be apparent” (this page). She also says that she has “great respect for seemingly arbitrary events” (this page). Do you think Lainey eventually finds a “reason” for Jay’s seemingly arbitrary accident? If so, what might it be?
14. After Jay wakes up, and Lainey sees him for the first time, she says “I don’t know the words for this. I only know the feeling. It is over me like a blanket, in me like blood” (this page). What do you imagine Lainey is feeling at this moment—what combination of overwhelming emotions?
15. At the end of the Epilogue, the long list of everyday things (Mozart, love, caterpillars, skyscrapers) is of “the telling songs of the wider life,” and Lainey is “listening with gratitude” (this page). How might Lainey perceive or think of these things differently after her experience? What do you think the lesson is in Range of Motion, about the importance of the small, everyday things—the small miracles—that make up the texture of a life?
For you, holding this.
From me, nearby.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks, as always, to my agent, Lisa Bankoff, and to my editor, Kate Medina, who take such good care of me.
My Tuesday morning writers’ group does everything a writers’ group should, and more. I love them and I appreciate them and I owe them more than I can ever repay.
Jessica Treadway and Bill Kahn were early readers who took time away from busy schedules to give to me, and I appreciate it.
Also by Elizabeth Berg
ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS YOU
THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU
HOME SAFE
THE DAY I ATE WHATEVER I WANTED
DREAM WHEN YOU’RE FEELING BLUE
THE HANDMAID AND THE CARPENTER
WE ARE ALL WELCOME HERE
THE YEAR OF PLEASURES
THE ART OF MENDING
SAY WHEN
TRUE TO FORM
ORDINARY LIFE: STORIES
NEVER CHANGE
OPEN HOUSE
ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN: THE ART OF WRITING TRUE
UNTIL THE REAL THING COMES ALONG
WHAT WE KEEP
JOY SCHOOL
THE PULL OF THE MOON
TALK BEFORE SLEEP
DURABLE GOODS
FAMILY TRADITIONS
ELIZABETH BERG is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Last Time I Saw You, Home Safe, The Year of Pleasures, and Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, as well as two collections of short stories and two works of nonfiction. Open House was an Oprah’s Book Club selection, Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for an ABBY Award. Berg adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play. She has been honored by both the Boston Public Library and the Chicago Public Library and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Her work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. She lives near Chicago.
www.elizabeth-berg.net