Hope you’re planning to join us for next week’s summer book discussion focused on Todd Johnson’s novel The Sweet By and By. We’ll beat the heat with some ice cream treats reminiscent of Margaret and Bernice’s escape to the Tastee Freeze and some very cool conversation about the lives of these five Southern women and what they teach us.
I’ve heard from several people that they LOVED (yes, shouty capitals) this book. Me, too. And I can’t wait to swap favorite passages next Wednesday, July 25, at 7 p.m. in room 101/103 at Soapstone. Here are a few to whet your appetite:
- “If you ever want to feel full in this life, you’re gon have to ask if you might be made for somethin bigger than yourself. And when you can answer that, the only other question is what are you gon do about it.”
- “I think the trick is knowing where you’re supposed to be, and letting go of everything else long enough to be there.”
- “I want you to know something if you don’t already. Life is choosing whom and what you love. Everything else follows…”
There are about fifty-hundred more I could list, but I’ll try to save something for next Wednesday. Hope to see you there.
By the by, here are a few discussion questions we’ll use (adaptations of those offered by Harper Collins Publishers):
1. What does each unique woman bring to the story? (Margaret, Bernice, Lorraine, Rhonda, April)
2. From Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July to Margaret and Bernice’s escape to the Tastee Freez, holidays and food are powerful motifs in The Sweet By and By. What function do these motifs play in the story? In our lives?
3. In Chapter Twenty-Six, April claims there are only two unforgivable sins: sickness and aging. Why do you think she says this? How do we view these “sins”?
4. Several of Lorraine’s chapters take place in church. How does Lorraine understand the role of God in her life, and does that change over the course of the novel? Has your view of God changed over the course of your life?
5. What does the title The Sweet By and By allude to? What do you feel it means in relationship to your own life?
6. What role does race play in the novel? Why do you think the author waits before revealing Margaret’s race?
7. In Chapter Twenty-Four, Lorraine, Margaret and Rhonda read Bernice Stokes’ letters to her deceased son. Lorraine says, “Don’t think she didn’t know, honey. There’s ways of knowing that we don’t know nothing about.” What do you think Lorraine means here?
8. Why does Margaret insist on naming Bernice’s second stuffed animal?
9. Is Margaret and Bernice’s escape related to Bernice’s death? Why or why not?
10. The novel is filled with uncharacteristic representations of age. In Chapter Twenty-Two, Rhonda recounts how as a child her grandmother threw away her dolls and told her, “You’re grown up now…. Let the past be the past!” A page later, she washes “Mister Benny’s” hair for an aging Bernice Stokes. In one of the novel’s final scenes, April takes her aging mother to the planetarium. Can you think of other passages like this? What does The Sweet By and By tell us about childhood, adulthood, and aging?
11. What did you learn about friendship from this novel? Love? Forgiveness? Dreams?
Have ideas for any other good questions to include?
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