Iodine

1. The opening line of the first chapter is among the most shocking imaginable: "I never / I never had sex with my father but I would have, if he had agreed." What was your reaction to this confession? Did you make any assumptions about the narrator or anticipate what might follow?

2. What do you later learn about Trace's affections for her father? How does Colt respond to Trace's extreme adoration? Where do you think these feelings come from and do they carry into Trace's relationships in her adult life at all?

3. In their discussion about a man Candy hears on the radio claiming to have been abducted by aliens, the concept of "screen memory" is mentioned. Reread this passage (pp. 13-14) and define this term. Are there any examples of possible screen memories that Trace relays to the reader?

4. Describe Trace's relationship with her other immediate family members - her mother Loretta, her stepfather Marty, her brother Billy and her sister Dusty. What is your interpretation of the events that took place in regard to Marty in Trace's childhood? Do you view her as a victim, a martyr, a nymph, a hero, or simply an innocent little girl?

5. Just before Trace happens upon the Nation of Islam stockpiling center, Kimmel writes, "no one knew better than she how much there is to fear, and that the threat is never where you expect it to be." What are the threats in Trace's life? What does she fear? Do you think these fears represent a kind of paranoia or are justified?

6. In her dream journal entry on p.49 Trace writes, "the whole of the past, even what belongs to someone else, is not what happened but what happened to me; dreams are not autonomous, they are messages to me about me." What is Trace saying here about personal reflection and consciousness?

7. Trace records incredibly vivid dreams and memories, many of which include the presence of animals. What is the significance of these animal dreams? Are they comforting or frightening for Trace?

8. In the end we discover that Trace has seizures and a disassociative personality disorder. Is this something you suspected all along? How does this information color your reading of Trace's story? What is the traumatic event that launched her into this state?

9. Who is Ianthe Covington?

10. When the doctor asks Jacob and Trace how long they've been married, Trace thinks four months and Jacob says four years. What do you make of this gap in the perception of time?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Contact your book club members a week before meeting and encourage them to keep a dream journal for a week. See what interesting images emerge.

2. Do your homework and look up the terms that head each chapter. What relevance do these words have to the novel?

3. Read a bit about James Hillman, the psychologist who Trace frequently mentions, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hillman.