If the Creek Don't Rise (Weiss) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our talking points to help start a discussion for If the Creek Don't Rise … then take off on your own:

1. In writing her novel, Leah Weiss said she was very much inspired by Olive Kiteridge and its structure as linked short stories. If you've read Elizabeth Strout's novel, do you see resemblences? If you've not read Olive Kiteridge, what do the shifting perspectives add to If the Creek Don't Rise? Do they contribute to a sense of community, perhaps?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: In what way is Sadie's life woven into the lives of others in Baines Creek. Trace the way in which each of the different storylines connects back to Sadie. Which character did you most engage with, appreciate, admire, dislike? What do their various voices convey: pain … fear … hope … wisdom … perseverance?

4. Follow-up to Question 1: What portrait of Baines Creek emerges from the various perspectives?

5. Describe Sadie Blue, her personality, her marriage to Roy Tuplin, her predicament. What do you admire in her … or what, perhaps, makes you impatient with her?

6. What makes Kate Shaw different from the other teachers who have come to Baines Creek? What personal challenges does she face in adjusting to her new life? Some in the community dislike Kate. Why

7. With her father dead, Sadie turns to her grandmother. What does she offer Sadie? How does Gladys' past parallel that of her granddaughter's.

8. Mary Harris Jones is perhaps everyone's favorite character. You might want to talk about her gifts to the community (both literal and metaphorical). When Marris first arrived at Baines Creek, at the age of 10, what were her initial impressions, especially when comapred to Rock Bottom where she had come from?

9. Overall, how would you describe the economic conditions — and life in general — in Baines Creek? What do you find appealing about the community  — and what most disturbs you?

10. A number of husbands find justification for beating their wives from the Biblical verse, Ephesians 5:22-23. Talk about the passage and the way in which those men interpret or misinterpret it.

11. How did you respond to the almost stream-of-consciousness writing and the use of dialect: "a pinch of sad," or "a slice of selfish that won't pretty." Do you find it authentic … gimmicky… condescending?

12. Are you satisfied with the way the novel ended?

13. What is the significance of the title and it's relationship to Loretta Lynn's ballad? Talk about Sadie's attachment to the country folk singer.

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution.)

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