Synopses & Reviews
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathildas sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessionse-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great dealin fact, she has to leave behind everything she lovesin order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Victor Lodato is a playwright and poet. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and has won numerous awards for his plays, including one from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. This is his first novel. He lives in Tucson and New York City. Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for WritingFinalist for the Virginia Commonwealth Universitys Cabell First Novelist Award
Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have been sleepwalking ever since. Mathilda has made it her mission to shock them back to life, and she's going to do it by behaving badly. Stealing, drinking, lying; she thinks, "I want to be awful. I want to do awful things and why not?"
Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessionse-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great dealin fact, she has to leave behind everything she lovesin order to discover the truth. "Part offbeat coming-of-age story and part suspense novel . . . Lodato skillfully, and often rather poetically, navigates the minefield of growing up."The Boston Globe"Part offbeat coming-of-age story and part suspense novel . . . Lodato skillfully, and often rather poetically, navigates the minefield of growing up."The Boston Globe
A fierce and funny debut novel . . . What makes this coming-of-age story so compelling is the tough, furtively loving voice of its narrator.”O, The Oprah Magazine
Have you met Mathilda? If not, prepare to bein equal measurescharmed and haunted . . . A darkly humorous, aching tale of adolescence.”The Christian Science Monitor
This is a delight and a devil of a book, a tale that fills you with despair and pleasure, often at the same time.”Time Out New York
"Lost in a grieving household, the title character of Victor Lodato's debut novel, Mathilda Savitch, is a teenage girl struggling to cope with her sister's suicide and navigate the perils of puberty. While her parents cannot pull themselves out of depression and remorse, Mathilda seeks solace by impersonating her sister. With a charming first-person narrative, Lodato weaves a familiar story with a poignant, graceful touch . . . What imbues Mathilda Savitch with a great degree of charm is not, however, its plot, but rather its voice, a combination of childish naiveté and heart-breaking vulnerability. Here's her description of her classmates at school: 'Sometimes I watch them and it's like Animal Planet. If I listen too long, it starts to bother me. It's probably what hell sounds like. I saw hell once in a movie, and it was pretty incomprehensible. I had to turn it off.' Mattie seeks the reasons behind Helene's suicide, but there are no revelations or tidy answers. Ultimately, she learns a sense of forgiveness, for herself and her parents, and that the way we deal with tragedy is to go on, to survive."William J. Cobb, The Dallas Morning News
"I don't know how one is meant to pronounce the last name of the titular Mathildaa long 'a'? an uptick on theitch?but in my mind, it rings close to 'savage.' That sounds about right for preteen Mathilda, who narrates: She can be vicious, yes, but, in the more primal sense, she's a wild child, wracked by grief and bewilderment over the death of her radiant older sister, Helene, and furiously acting out. Her parentsa kind but ineffective father, a bathrobed mother with bottles stashed around the houseare practically zombies. And as if growing up wasn't complicated enough, Mathilda's already uneasy puberty is colored by the nightly news of terrorist attacks, which engenders a constant state of anxiety and peril that she internalizes and even sexualizes, even though she admits she doesn't entirely understand what's going on (of a recent suicide bombing, she says, 'It's getting to be a big problem over there in one of those problematic countries'). In many ways, Mathilda is a child putting on like she's an adult, and Lodato, a poet and playwright in his fiction debut, creates in her an unforgettable voice. His Mathilda is an acerbic wit, yet is capable of great rushes of compassion; she is plainspoken, but given to the most lovely, left-field reflections. Recalling the way her parents were before Helene's death, Mathilda says, 'Da gave Ma the kind of kisses that linger, and afterwards she looked like someone who'd just had a bath' . . . A marvel of observational acuity and lyrical phrasing."Kimberley Jones, The Austin Chronicle
"Lodato's writing is lush and dense. We spend our time in Mathilda's mind, and it's not a boring place. She's a reader. In a time of 'terror,' she finds solace in Anne Frank's diary. The child of secular parents, she searches for explanations and expiations through religionany religion. She assembles a personal pantheon consisting of Krishna, the crucified Christ, a pretended Protestant allegiance and the collection of 'watchers' she imagines overseeing her life. Mathilda's need for divine intercession grows as the plot tightens. That would be 'plot such as it is' tightens. The action meanders for much of the book, through Mathilda's interactions and through plans related to the anniversary of Helene's deathand the book sags a bit in the middle. Fortunately, Lodato pulls out some suspense, tautens it with a sense of threat, and throws in a surprise by the end. We realize only after the fact how precisely he's spun out the action. Mathilda Savitch is a fine debut novel. Lodato's writing is as tight as tapestrywith no thread loose. His central character is funny, flawed, multifaceted and fully realized."Christine Wald-Hopkins, Tucson Weekly
From page one, the outrageous, pitch-perfect voice of this book grabs you up and wont let go. A bravura performance.”Mary Karr, author of The Liars Club and Cherry
Mathilda Savitch is a hilarious, self-deprecating, and outrageously openhearted creationan oracle struggling to under stand her own proclamations. Mathildas cluelessness and brilliance are captured in a language so true, it will make you feel like you are right back in the madness and squalor that is the schoolyard. And you will be forced to confront, once again, the truth that all adolescents grapple with, that the lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum.”Heather ONeill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals
The first novel from poet and playwright Lodato is a stunning portrait of grief and youthful imagination. Narrator Mathilda Savitch is an adolescent girl negotiating life after the death of her older sister, Helene. Her parents, especially her alcoholic mother, are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, so she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. She speaks with the bold matter-of-factness of a child, but also reveals a deep understanding of life far beyond her year s: I wondered why god would unlock a door just to show you emptiness, she says. It made me wonder if maybe he was in cahoots with infinity. Lodato chooses every word with extreme care; Mathildas observations read like a finely crafted epic poem, whose themes and imagery paint an intricate map of her inner life. Shes a metaphysical Holden Caulfield for the terrifying present day.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“A fierce and funny debut novel. . . What makes this coming-of-age story so compelling is the tough, furtively loving voice of its narrator.”--
O, The Oprah Magazine“Have you met Mathilda? If not, prepare to be--in equal measures--charmed and haunted. . . . A darkly humorous, aching tale of adolescence.”--The Christian Science Monitor “This is a delight and a devil of a book, a tale that fills you with despair and pleasure, often at the same time.”--Time Out New York “Part offbeat coming-of-age story and part suspense novel . . . Lodato skillfully, and often rather poetically, navigates the minefield of growing up.”--The Boston Globe
“From page one, the outrageous, pitch-perfect voice of this book grabs you up and wont let go. A bravura performance.” —Mary Karr, author of The Liars Club and Cherry
“Mathilda Savitch is a hilarious, self-deprecating, and outrageously openhearted creation—an oracle struggling to under stand her own proclamations. Mathildas cluelessness and brilliance are captured in a language so true, it will make you feel like you are right back in the madness and squalor that is the schoolyard. And you will be forced to confront, once again, the truth that all adolescents grapple with, that the lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum.” —Heather ONeill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals
“The first novel from poet and playwright Lodato is a stunning portrait of grief and youthful imagination. Narrator Mathilda Savitch is an adolescent girl negotiating life after the death of her older sister, Helene. Her parents, especially her alcoholic mother, are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, so she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. She speaks with the bold matter-of-factness of a child, but also reveals a deep understanding of life far beyond her year s: ‘I wondered why god would unlock a door just to show you emptiness, she says. ‘It made me wonder if maybe he was in cahoots with infinity. Lodato chooses every word with extreme care; Mathildas observations read like a finely crafted epic poem, whose themes and imagery paint an intricate map of her inner life. Shes a metaphysical Holden Caulfield for the terrifying present day.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“From page one, the outrageous, pitch-perfect voice of this book grabs you up and wont let go. A bravura performance.” —Mary Karr, author of The Liars Club and Cherry
“Mathilda Savitch is a hilarious, self-deprecating, and outrageously openhearted creation—an oracle struggling to under stand her own proclamations. Mathildas cluelessness and brilliance are captured in a language so true, it will make you feel like you are right back in the madness and squalor that is the schoolyard. And you will be forced to confront, once again, the truth that all adolescents grapple with, that the lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum.” —Heather ONeill, author of Lullabies for Little Criminals
“The first novel from poet and playwright Lodato is a stunning portrait of grief and youthful imagination. Narrator Mathilda Savitch is an adolescent girl negotiating life after the death of her older sister, Helene. Her parents, especially her alcoholic mother, are too traumatized to give her the comfort she needs, so she lives in an elaborate world of her own invented logic. Mathilda evaluates sex, religion and national tragedy in language that is constantly surprising, amusing and often heartbreaking. She speaks with the bold matter-of-factness of a child, but also reveals a deep understanding of life far beyond her year s: ‘I wondered why god would unlock a door just to show you emptiness, she says. ‘It made me wonder if maybe he was in cahoots with infinity. Lodato chooses every word with extreme care; Mathildas observations read like a finely crafted epic poem, whose themes and imagery paint an intricate map of her inner life. Shes a metaphysical Holden Caulfield for the terrifying present day.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)"In many ways, Mathilda is a child putting on like she's an adult, and Lodato, a poet and playwright in his fiction debut, creates in her an unforgettable voice. His Mathilda is an acerbic wit, yet is capable of great rushes of compassion; she is plainspoken, but given to the most lovely, left-field reflections. Recalling the way her parents were before Helene's death, Mathilda says, "Da gave Ma the kind of kisses that linger, and afterwards she looked like someone who'd just had a bath." The book's first passage (out of four) is its strongest: a marvel of observational acuity and lyrical phrasing." --Kimberly Jones, The Austin Chronicle "As a writer, Lodato understands the true and ugly side of mourning. Trying to provoke her parents, Mathilda dresses up in her dead sisters birthday dress. Numb, in search of deeper numbness, her mother downs the vodka, and crawls on the kitchen floor, howling, in search of another bottle.Mathildas original observations carry these incidents—blending imagination, intelligence and kookily beautiful imagery. Her best friend lives in a house “thats the kind of place that looks excellent when it snows” and has sheets that “smell like milk.” Pigeons make “sounds like dreaming dogs.” This is a narrator unafraid of shoulds and shouldnts, longing for a broken version of happiness. “Id like to be a person with brain damage,” Mathilda notes, “with nothing but a whale of joy jumping around inside of me.” ... This is a delight and a devil of a book, a tale that fills you with despair and pleasure—often at the same time.--Leigh Newman, Time Out New York "Mathilda is rebelling against everything and making up her own version of reality, hoping to come upon something more meaningful and less painful than the world in which she lives. Along with her parents, this intelligent and hyper-imaginative young teenager is trying to come to grips with the death of her older sister a year earlier. Presented in a first-person, present-tense onslaught of conversations, fantasies, and confrontations, the novel follows Mathilda as she begins the new school year and immediately gets into trouble with the principal. Later, she invites friends to her house for an all-night survival exercise in her basement, since this a world in which sisters incomprehensibly die and terrorists attack. Mathilda carries on a personal investigation of her sister's life, hacking into the sister's former email account and messaging a boy she figureds was involved with her sister. VERDICT Engaging and humorous yet grappling with serious issues, this novel details a girl's distorted view of events and the people around her. The treatment is mature and literary, but this title could almost be a YA novel."--Jim Coan, Library Journal "A wildly precocious adolescent girl searches for the truth behind her sister's death in playwright Lodato's creative and engaging debut novel. The author crafts a singular voice that combines the disjointed confessional tone of Holden Caulfield with the ethereal sadness of Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones. The13-year-old narrator's matter-of-fact reflections on her dysfunctional family hold the whole amazing concoction together ... The story Lodato tells, while compulsively readable, isn't the main selling point. It's the way he occupies Mathilda so completely, giving her marvelous lines like, "Sometimes I'd think I'd like to be a person with brain damage, with nothing but the whale of joy jumping around inside of me," or, "The thing is, I don't want to end up like Ma and Da. In a house with books and dust and all the love gone out of it." His portrait of a damaged but hopeful girl stands up to classics like Walter Tevis' Queen's Gambit.... Both mature adolescents and adult readers will find much to love in Lodato's remarkable creation."-- Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009
A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009
WINNER OF THE PEN USA AWARD FOR FICTION
Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathilda's sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides she's going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sister's most secret possessions--e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great deal--in fact, she has to leave behind everything she loves--in order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Synopsis
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathildas sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessions—e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great deal—in fact, she has to leave behind everything she loves—in order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Synopsis
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathildas sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessionse-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great dealin fact, she has to leave behind everything she lovesin order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Synopsis
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathildas sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessionse-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great dealin fact, she has to leave behind everything she lovesin order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Synopsis
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR BEST BOOK OF 2009A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2009A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2009
Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathilda's sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.
Mathilda decides she's going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sister's most secret possessions--e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great deal--in fact, she has to leave behind everything she loves--in order to discover the truth.
Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut.
Victor Lodato is a playwright and poet. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and has won numerous awards for his plays, including one from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. This is his first novel. He lives in Tucson and New York City. Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for WritingFinalist for the Virginia Commonwealth University's Cabell First Novelist Award
Fear doesn't come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bear to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have been sleepwalking ever since. Mathilda has made it her mission to shock them back to life, and she's going to do it by behaving badly. Stealing, drinking, lying; she thinks, I want to be awful. I want to do awful things and why not?
Mathilda decides she's going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sister's most secret possessions--e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. But she must risk a great deal--in fact, she has to leave behind everything she loves--in order to discover the truth. Part offbeat coming-of-age story and part suspense novel . . . Lodato skillfully, and often rather poetically, navigates the minefield of growing up.--The Boston GlobePart offbeat coming-of-age story and part suspense novel . . . Lodato skillfully, and often rather poetically, navigates the minefield of growing up.--The Boston Globe
A fierce and funny debut novel . . . What makes this coming-of-age story so compelling is the tough, furtively loving voice of its narrator.--O, The Oprah Magazine
Have you met Mathilda? If not, prepare to be--in equal measures--charmed and haunted . . . A darkly humorous, aching tale of adolescence.--The Christian Science Monitor
This is a delight and a devil of a book, a tale that fills you with despair and pleasure, often at the same time.--Time Out New York
Lost in a grieving household, the title character of Victor Lodato's debut novel, Mathilda Savitch, is a teenage girl struggling to cope with her sister's suicide and navigate the perils of puberty. While her parents cannot pull themselves out of depression and remorse, Mathilda seeks solace by impersonating her sister. With a charming first-person narrative, Lodato weaves a familiar story with a poignant, graceful touch . . . What imbues Mathilda Savitch with a great degree of charm is not, however, its plot, but rather its voice, a combination of childish naivete and heart-breaking vulnerability. Here's her description of her classmates at school: 'Sometimes I watch them and it's like Animal Planet. If I listen too long, it starts to bother me. It's probably what hell sounds like. I saw hell once in a movie, and it was pretty incomprehensible. I had to turn it off.' Mattie seeks the reasons behind Helene's suicide, but there are no revelations or tidy answers. Ultimately, she learns a sense of forgiveness, for herself and her parents, and that the way we deal with tragedy is to go on, to survive.--William J. Cobb, The Dallas Morning News
I don't know how one is meant to pronounce the last name of the titular Mathilda--a long 'a'? an uptick on the--itch?--but in my mind, it rings close to 'savage.' That sounds about right for preteen Mathilda, who narrates: She can be vicious, yes, but, in the more primal sense, she's a wild child, wracked by grief and bewilderment over the death of her radiant older sister, Helene, and furiously acting out. Her parents--a kind but ineffective father, a bathrobed mother with bottles stashed around the house--are practically zombies. And as if growing up wasn't complicated enough, Mathilda's already uneasy puberty is colored by the nightly news of terrorist attacks, which engenders a constant state of anxiety and peril that she internalizes and even sexualizes, even though she admits she doesn't entirely understand what's going on (of a recent suicide bombing, she says, 'It's getting to be a big problem over there in one of those problematic countries'). In many ways, Mathilda is a child putting on like she's an adult, and Lodato, a poet and playwright in his fiction debut, creates in her an unforgettable voice. His Mathilda is an acerbic wit, yet is capable of great rushes of compassion; she is plainspoken, but given to the most lovely, left-field reflections. Recalling the way her parents were before Helene's death, Mathilda says, 'Da gave Ma the kind of kisses that linger, and afterwards she looked like someone who'd just had a bath' . . . A marvel of observational acuity and lyrical phrasing.--Kimberley Jones, The Austin Chronicle
Lodato's writing is lush and dense. We spend our time in Mathilda's mind, and it's not a boring place. She's a reader. In a tim
About the Author
Victor Lodato is a playwright, poet and novelist. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and has won numerous awards for his plays, including one from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. Mathilda Savitch, his first novel, received the PEN USA Literary Award and was named a Best Book of 2009 by The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist and The Globe and Mail. He lives in Tucson and New York City.
Reading Group Guide
Questions for Discussion 1. What was it like to read Mathildas story in her own words, with phrases directed at you? Why does Mathilda sometimes lie to the reader? Do you think she is consciously manipulative, or do you believe she is lying to herself?
2. Reread the books epigraph. Do you agree with G. K. Chestertons statement that the desire for justice is related to innocence, while the desire for mercy is related to wickedness? How do Mathildas feelings about justice and mercy evolve over the course of the book?
3. What makes Mathildas friendship with Anna so unpredictable? Who was your best friend when you were their age? How was that relationship different from the friendships you have now?
4. What do you think lies behind Mathildas desire to be “awful”? What does she seem to want? Do you sympathize with her? What were the most irrational thoughts you had as a teenager?
5. What does the current relationship between Ma and Da, combined with the legacy of their passionate younger days, teach Mathilda about love?
6. Mathilda has heard a lot about sex and has many beliefs about its power and pleasures. How does she want to use sex? What type of gratification is she looking for when she pursues Kevin? Discuss Mathildas understanding of Helenes sexuality. In your opinion, how accurate are her perceptions about her sister?
7. Is Mathilda wise to stop trusting adults? What kind of role models are they in regard to dealing with her sisters death? Do you believe, as Mathilda states, that “Grief is an island”?
8. Why is it important for Mathilda to believe that Helene was pushed? What do you think lies behind Mathildas brutal fantasies?
9. What drives Mathildas compulsion to save strands of hair? Discuss other instances of her magical thinking. How do these thoughts serve her? Are they helpful or debilitating?
10. An award-winning playwright, Victor Lodato makes his debut as a novelist with Mathilda Savitch. Does it affect your reading to know that a man created Mathildas voice? Can you think of other instances where a male writer convincingly renders a female interior life?
11. Try to see the adults in this novel—including parents, teachers, and the Tree— apart from Mathildas views and judgments. Are they doing the best they can? Do you think Mathilda misunderstands, at times, their behavior and intentions?
12. Discuss Mathildas feelings of responsibility in regard to her sisters death. How much does self-blame drive her actions?
13. How did your image of Helene change throughout the novel? Why does Mathilda have such mixed feelings in regard to her sister? Do you think her version of Helenes life is a fantasy, or did she know her sister better than anyone else in the family did?
14. What do you think Mathilda is looking for when she decides to go to Desmond? How is she different when she returns?
15. Why doesnt Mathilda tell Louis the truth? What is she trying to accomplish in her last moments with him? Why doesnt she tell her parents what she uncovered about Helene?
16. Discuss the backdrop of terrorism running throughout the novel. How does it affect Mathildas perception of the world? How does it shape the emotional state of a new generation of teenagers?
17. How does dark comedy enhance Mathildas storytelling? What passages made you laugh out loud (even if laughter seemed inappropriate)?
18. Discuss the final scene between Ma and Mathilda. What common ground do they share? Why are they silent when they are reunited? What do they communicate to each other without words?