Wrong Highway
Page 35
You follow your daughter into the windy winter afternoon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank the members of my writers critique group who cared tenderly for this manuscript in its infancy and childhood: Lisa Alber, Michael Bigham, Dawn Cadwell, and Jeannie Burt. Thank you to my daughters Gabrielle and Jessica and my cousin Kathleen Fitzgerald for your careful and honest feedback. Thank you to Genevieve Gagne-Hawes at Writers House for guiding me through several rewrites. Thank you to my son Lukas for nagging me to “get an agent”. Thank you to my neighbor and friend Kim Bissell for your advice and support. Thank you to my wonderful publishing team of Mary Bisbee-Beek, Ann Weinstock, and Kristen Weber. A multitude of thanks to my husband Zak. I waited a long time to show this book to you but once I did you became my greatest backer.
And thank you always to my continually expanding family: my husband Zak (again); my children Gabrielle, Jessica, Alex, and Lukas; my son-in-laws Tom and Matt; and my grandchildren Halle, River, Lillianna, and Leda. You provide the chaos that is life and the context for everything I do.
CREDITS
Once In a Lifetime
Words and Music by Brian Eno, David Byrne, Christopher Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth
Copyright © 1980 by E.G. Music Ltd., WB Music Corp. and Index Music, Inc.
All Rights for EG Music Ltd. in the United States and Canada Administered by Universal Music – MGB Songs
All Rights for Index Music, Inc. Administered by WB Music Corp.
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
Maps and Legends
Words and Music by Michael Mills, William Berry, Peter Buck and Michael Stipe
© 1985 night garden music
All Rights Administered by warner-tamerlane publishing corp.
All Rights Reserved.
BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION GUIDE
1.How does the book’s 1980s setting inform the characters and plot? Do you think this story could take place today?
2.How does the suburban setting inform the characters and plot? Which aspects of this story are unique to upper middle class suburbs and which are more universal in nature?
3.Are you more sympathetic to Erica or to Debbie, or to both women equally? What do you view as their strengths and weaknesses?
4.Do you think Debbie bears any culpability for what happens to her or do you see her simply as a victim?
5.How do you think Erica gets away with having so many secrets—from her husband, from her family, from her friends?
6.Do you think Jared’s behavior justifies the degree of his parent’s intervention?
7.What is your opinion of Ron? Whether he actually beats his wife or son is left unclear. What is your gut feeling on this issue?
8.How do you see Erica as a mother?
9.How do you see Ethan as a husband? Do you think he views Erica as a full person?
10.Do you think Erica’s attitudes and actions at home and Ethan’s attitudes and actions on Wall Street parallel each other in any way? How are their characters alike and different? What holds their marriage together?
11.What do you think motivates Erica to use drugs? Why cocaine in particular? What holes in her life is she filling? Do the holes come from without or within or both?
12.Why does Jared have such a hold on Erica’s heart?
13.Where does childhood end and adulthood begin? Are there risks created by not drawing a clear line between the two? Why do you think Erica is so drawn to adolescents and adolescence? Do you agree with Debbie that you cannot be a friend to your child (or nephew)?
14.Erica endures a number of escapes and near misses that could have destroyed her life. But at the end she is “still standing”. Do you think this is fair? Do you think she deserves a comeuppance?
15.Why do you think Ethan essentially shrugs off Erica’s confession, telling her that he “has enough on his plate”?
16.Do you think, by the end of the book, that Erica has been changed in any way by her experiences? Has Ethan?
17.What do you think the future holds for Erica and why? Will she stay off drugs? Live her life differently? Reconcile with her family?
18.Wrong Highway touches on some charged issues: drug addiction, abortion, Wall Street malfeasance, to name a few. Did you come to any of these topics with preconceived notions that affected your perception of the book?