East of Denver (Hill) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1) Is East of Denver a comedy?  Or are the "funny" parts so tinged with sadness that the book can only be considered tragic?  For instance, is it okay to laugh when Emmett misstates an idiomatic expression?  Or should we pity him?  Further, does the book respect Emmett or is it so unsentimental in its portrayal that it he becomes a clown? 
 
2) Why does the book, after two hundred pages of more or less realistic behavior, go completely nuts for the last few chapters?  Why does the book end where it does, without a complete resolution?  Do Shakes and Emmett land the plane?  What happens to the people inside the bank?  Ultimately, is it a happy ending or a sad ending?

3) What role does hopelessness play in East of Denver?  It seems that most of the characters are motivated not by a promise of a better life, but out of a certain despair for the gradual worsening of their own.  Clarissa McPhail's eating disorder, Vaughan Atkins’ reluctance to leave his basement, and Shakespeare's ultimate decision for the future of the farm all seem to be the acts of people who've given up hope.  Does this make these characters hard to like?  Only Emmett, with his lack of mooring in time, seems to be impervious to the misery that gradually descends throughout the novel. 

4)  Sense of place questions: The author has said that East of Denver represents the "unhomesteading of America," going so far as to claim that the book can be interpreted as a reverse of Hal Borland's growing-up-on-the-plains memoir, High Wide and Lonesome.   Is there a greater geographical, political, environmental message within this concept of "unhomesteading?"  And how is the barren, yet teeming-with-life, nature of the landscape reflected in the book's characters?

5)  The plot of East of Denver is unconventional, almost meandering at times.  Is this a weakness or is it a deliberate attempt to mimic the undirected nature of life overcome by dementia?

6) Why don't we ever find out what Shakes did for work in Denver?   It seems like his job/friends/living conditions would be relevant to the story.  But the book barely mentions his Denver life.

7) Are there any biblical allusions in the story?  The bush with snake in it, the garden, the conclusive flight toward the heavens. . .are these deliberate biblical references with some sort of message?  Or did the author put them in just to make people ask questions like this one? 
(Questions kindly provided by the author...with a big assist from Nancy McWhorter, one of LitLovers' loyal readers!)

top of page (summary)