5. “The sharing of secrets is a ceremony, marking kinship. You have no secrets yet, so you don’t know what you don’t know” (this page). What secrets does Tess develop? Do they help her, or hurt her?
6. What does Simone mean when she tells Tess, “And you want to take every experience on the pulse” (this page)? And when Tess repeats that phrase to Jake on this page, why does he say, “You’re too malleable to be around [Simone]”?
7. The concept of “terroir” appears several times in the novel. On this page, Tess wonders if people can have it. Which characters do you think have terroir? Can a book have it?
8. At what point does it become clear to the reader that Tess has developed a problem with drugs and alcohol? When does she realize it?
9. Simone and Jake each influence Tess greatly. Whose influence proves more beneficial, and whose is more damaging? What does she want from each of them? What does she get?
10. On this page, Tess tells Jake, “You’re all terrified of young people. We remind you of what it was like to have ideals, faith, freedom. We remind you of the losses you’ve taken as you’ve grown cynical, numb, disenchanted, compromising the life you imagined. I don’t have to compromise yet. I don’t have to do a single thing I don’t want to do. That’s why you hate me.” What do you think of her assessment?
11. Several of Tess’s coworkers assign to her nicknames of their own devising—“new girl,” “Skipper,” “Fluffer,” “little one.” The reader doesn’t even learn her real name until this page. What do these names have in common? Are they terms of endearment, or belittling?
12. What role does Howard play in Tess’s coming of age? What does he see in her that she hasn’t yet seen in herself?
13. Tess and Simone each came to New York at twenty-two. How were their paths similar, and how were they different?
14. Tess and Jake both grew up motherless. Simone becomes a mother figure for each. Which of them gets the most out of the relationship: Tess, Jake, or Simone?
15. Why does Samantha’s appearance at the restaurant affect Simone so deeply?
16. Why does discovering Simone’s key tattoo affect Tess so deeply?
17. When examining the photographs pinned to Jake’s wall, Tess thinks, “It reminded me, the way he skirted around those photos, of something Simone had told me during one of our lessons: try not to have ideas about things, always aim for the thing itself. I still did not understand these four photographs, the why of them” (this page). What does this passage mean? What does she want to know?
18. Why does Tess feel so betrayed when she learns about Jake and Simone’s planned sabbatical? How does the timing, coinciding with the restaurant’s closing, affect her response?
19. Over the course of the novel, Tess devotes herself to studying wine—but after she shares her thoughts on Beaujolais, Mrs. Neely says, “Child, what is wrong with you? There’s no roses in the damn wine. Wine is wine and it makes you loose and helps you dance. That’s it. The way you kids talk, like everything is life or death” (this page). What does this exchange do for Tess? What does Mrs. Neely represent?
20. When Sasha tells Tess about the reality of Jake and Simone’s relationship, why is she surprised?
21. Why does Tess have sex with Howard?
22. Regularly throughout the novel, the author interrupts Tess’s storytelling with collections of overheard fragments of conversation. What purpose do these poetic interludes serve? What does the final one represent?
Suggested Reading
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
In the Drink by Kate Christensen
Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill
Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats by John Keats
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Just Kids by Patti Smith
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