Synopses & Reviews
From Jeanne Braselton, author of the crtically acclaimed A False Sense of Well Being comes an irresistible new novel about the power of enduring love, poignantly told by an unforgettable narrator whos watching from her place on “the other side of air.”
Katy Doyal has loved her husband, Ephraim, since their very first meeting in Rome, Georgia, when she was eight years old. Now, realizing that her time on earth is slipping away, Katy is determined to leave behind an orderly life and enlists the help of a stranger-a middle-aged, robust, wild-haired woman named Rose-to become a caretaker to her dear, dotty curmudgeon. After Katy passes, Ephraim is surprised to notice that his grief is easier to bear thanks to the arrival of this outsider. Even Katy, observing the events from the great beyond, is pleased.
If only Katy and Ephraims only child, Wyatt, could be so accepting. After moving to California to start his own life, Wyatt is still unable to escape his feelings of insecurity and exclusion from his parents ironclad union-a neediness that endangers his own marriage, and threatens to overshadow his mothers death and upstage his fathers mourning.
But Rose isnt about to let anything distract her from her sacred mission. And Katy-watching her family embracing life and love again-knows she needs to let go before she can earn “her wings.”
Reading Group Guide
1.
The Other Side of Air begins, “Now that I have died, I see all and know all.” How is opening the book in the voice of a dead narrator a powerful narrative technique? Does it force you to suspend disbelief ? How?
2. As a reader, what do you learn immediately about the narrator Katy and her personality, her family, and what she finds most important in life (and death)? What do you find most compelling about her character?
3. What characteristics does Rose possess that makes her the “right company for Ephraim,” in Katys eyes? Why does Ephraim eventually accept her into his life? Why do Ann and Wyatt do so after their initial objections?
4. Before her death, Katy muses about “how little permission sacrifice had brought” in her relationship with Wyatt. What sacrifices did Katy and Ephraim make for Wyatt? What do you think they were seeking in return from their son? Did Wyatt make any sacrifices for them?
5. Wyatts relationship with his parents is a contentious one. What about his personality does not jibe with his mother and father? Why do you think Ephraim labels his son “unkind”? Do you think this assessment is accurate?
6. Why do you think Wyatt considered himself excluded from his parents? Do you think his parents could have included him more in their lives? How does Wyatts childhood resentment bubble over into his relationship with his wife, Ann?
7. Katy remarks that Ephraim “had always been in extraordinary spiritual condition” (p. 35). Do you agree or disagree? How does Ephraim express his spirituality, and how does that spirituality differ from the spirtuality of his wife, his son, and others around him? Why doesnt Ephraim pay as much attention to his physical condition as he does to his spiritual one?
8. How does money influence Wyatts perception of his parents, both while he is growing up and later on, when they become more affluent? How does the perception of class affect Wyatt, and also his parents before him? What does affluence mean to him and to Ann, whose parents have warned that “she wouldnt inherit a dime if she allowed them to decline and die without their favorite daughter near them in Florida” (p. 45)?
9. How does Braselton paint death in the scenes where Katy and then Ephraim perish? What emotions does she evoke in you, the reader, during those pivotal moments? After reading the afterword, what do you think might have been going through Braseltons mind as she crafted those scenes?
10. Why does Ephraim refuse to help with housework or the everyday duties of home life? How does Katy come to accept this? If you were in her position, how might you react?
11. “I dont know that hell ever easily put his arms around a pleasure,” muses Katy about Wyatt (p. 70). Do you think that Wyatt has begun to change by the end of the novel? How do you think having a child of his own will affect his mindset and behavior?
12. Letters pepper the book-Katys to Rose, Katys mothers to Katy, Ephraims to Wyatt. How are these letters an effective way to move the story forward and to give you, the reader, a better sense about those who have written those missives? What effect do the letters have on their recipients?
13. Compare and contrast Wyatts marriage with that of his parents. How do you think Ann might like him to be more similar to his father, as a husband and, perhaps, as a father? How does Wyatt and Anns modern marriage have some very traditional problems?
14. Why do Ephraim and Ann want Wyatt to surprise them? Do you think his subsequent surprise is a successful one? Why or why not?
15. Why does Katy, and then Rose, suggest that Wyatt buy Ann a corsage? Why do you think Ann is so thrilled with this gift?
16. Katy and her mother believe that “infinity is made only of the chief emotions we felt in life” (p. 127). What are the chief emotions that Katy feels in her life, that she subsequently feels after her death? What emotions do you think Ephraim will feel?
17. What is Ephraims first reaction to Katys death? Why do you think he is able to immediately sleep? Why do you think he subsequently measures his life in “how long Ill be made to stay, not how little I have left” (p. 62)?
18. Katy remarks to Wyatt how Flannery OConnor was capable of observing “with a kind of critical distance” (p. 129). How is this similar to or different from her own relationship with Wyatt, both before and after her death?
19. What do you think the title The Other Side of Air means? Did you have a different understanding of the novels title upon reaching the books conclusion?