Tell the Wolves I'm Home Discussion Guide: Home
Articles, Interviews, and Reviews
- Goodreads Reviews: Tell the Wolves I'm HomeGoodreads.com
- A Conversation with Elin Hilderbrand and Carol Rifka BruntPenguin Random House Reader's Guide
- "Once I Can Hear the Way the Character Speaks": A Q&A with Carol Rifka Bruntbarnesandnoblereview.com, July 16, 2012
Discussion Questions
(From Lit Lovers)
1. Toby initiates a relationship with June that necessarily involves secrets kept from her parents. Can this ever be right? Is it ever okay for an adult to have a secret relationship with a child? Even if it's formed out of the best of intentions?
2. Every relationship in the book is tinged with jealousy and/or envy. How is this played out in each of the relationships? Can jealousy ever be a positive thing? Does loving someone too much always lead to jealousy?
3. “My mother gave me a disappointed look. Then I gave her one back. Mine was for everything, not just the sandwich”
Readers have said that they feel very negatively towards June's mother, Danni. How do you feel about her? How much is she to blame for the events in the book?
4. “The sun kept on with its slipping away, and I thought how many small good things in the world might be resting on the shoulders of something terrible.”
How does this speak to the events in Tell the Wolves I'm Home? Can terrible things like AIDS ever result in small good things?
5. "You get into habits with people. Ways of being with them..."
Toby says this to June when they're talking about her relationship with Greta. Many sisters (and brothers) have fractious relationships as teenagers then grow up to be friends. Do you think that will be the case with Greta and June? Have you had an experience like this with your own sibling(s)?
6. If you were around in the late 80s, do you remember anything about your perception of AIDS and the fear surrounding the disease?
7. How has society's reaction to homosexuality changed over the last 25 years? Could this story have taken place in 2012?
8. Greta is older, more savvy and knows more than June, but June sometimes seems wiser than her sister. How is this so? Does knowledge always equal wisdom?
9. Do you think June will ever show Greta the secret basement room and the stash of Finn's paintings or will she always keep this to herself?
10. Do you blame June for what happens to Toby towards the end of the book? Do you think June will ever forgive herself for what happened that night?
11. Do you think the portrait was more beautiful before or after it was restored to its original state. Can a work of art ever be improved on by external additions or is the artist's vision and intention the most important aspect of art?
12. June would like to escape to the Middle Ages. All her favorite places are escapist in nature. Would June actually be happy if her wish of time travel was granted? How does that wish change over the course of the story? Is escapism ever valuable? How do you escape?
Reserve a copy
Tell the Wolves I'm HomeISBN: 9780679644194
Recommended Reading
The Round House by ISBN: 9780062065247One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal what happened, either to the police or to her husband, Bazil, and thirteen-year-old son, Joe. In one day, Joe's life is irrevocably transformed. He tries to heal his mother, but she will not leave her bed and slips into an abyss of solitude. Increasingly alone, Joe finds himself thrust prematurely into an adult world for which he is ill prepared. Both books are moving and character-driven coming-of-age stories dealing with loss and family relationships.
If you liked Tell the Wolves I'm Home, you might enjoy the following books.
Once upon a River by ISBN: 9780393079890After the violent death of her father, in which sixteen-year-old Margo Crane is complicit, Margo takes to the Stark River in her boat, with only a few supplies and a biography of Annie Oakley, in search of her vanished mother. Both are coming-of-age stories where self-searching and growth are prompted by a tragedy.
All the Pretty Horses by ISBN: 9780679744399"All the Pretty Horses" is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood. Both books are atmospheric, character-driven coming-of-age stories dealing with loss.
