A Scattered Life
Karen McQuestion, 2010
AmazonEncore
300 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781935597063
Summary
In A Scattered Life, Karen McQuestion proves to be an adept chronicler of unforgettable female characters. Poignantly written, she thoughtfully examines how women love, learn, and come to accept themselves and others, as well as life’s often harsh realities of deception and loss.
Skyla Plinka has all she could ask for—at least that’s what her mother-in-law Audrey thinks. On most days, Skyla agrees, yet there’s a part of her that longs for her free-spirited days before husband, child, and the humdrum life of rural Wisconsin.
Close friend Roxanne (and the five sons she can’t seem to keep tabs on), offers a reprieve, but it isn’t until Skyla takes a part time job at her local bookstore that she starts to feel at home in her own skin. Her growing independence causes conflicts with her husband, her in-laws, and even her best friend, but in the end, Skyla learns what it means to love and be loved in this unsure journey called life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Karen McQuestion’s essays have appeared in Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Christian Science Monitor and several anthologies. Originally self-published as a Kindle e-book, A Scattered Life became the first self-published Kindle book to ever be optioned for film. McQuestion lives with her family in Hartland, Wisconsin (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
McQuestion’s debut novel focuses on three women in a peaceful Wisconsin suburb.... A late-in-the-game tragedy feels engineered to invoke tears, but readers looking for a quiet tale about women learning to manage their expectations and find joy in unexpected places will enjoy this sweet read. — Kristin Huntley
Booklist
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for A Scattered Life:
1. What drew Thomas and Skyla together—and keeps them together—as a couple. Is it their differences or similarities that form their attraction to one another? What does each offer the other?
2. What is it about her life with Thomas that makes Skyla content? How has her childhood affected the way in which she thinks about her current life—about the things that bring her happiness, as well as the things she wants for her daughter?
3. From the first, how do Skyla and Thomas view the new neighbors? How do you view them, especially Roxanne? How would you describe Roxanne, and why does Skyla see Roxanne as the friend she had been looking for?
4. How does the job in Mystic Books change Skyla? What about Thomas's and Audrey's reactions—fair...or not?
5. What about Audrey, Skyla's mother-in-law? Is she interfering...or justifiably desirous of a closer relationship with her granddaughter? What kind of a mother has she been...and what kind of a mother-in-law is she?
6. McQuestion's book explores what it means to be a mother. What are the differing styles of motherhood that the three women—Skyla, Audrey, and Roxanne—represent. Which appeals to you...which fits you...or fits the way you were raised?
7. Do you believe, as Skyla says, that "most people have everything they need to be happy"? Does Skyla actually believe it?
8. Were you prepared for the tragedy at the heart of the story? Talk about the ways in which each character copes and learns from what happens.
9. How, by the end of the novel, are the characters changed? What do they learn about themselves and the world around them?
10. What is the significance of the book's title, "a scattered life"?
11. A Scattered Life as achieved some notoriety as the first self-published Kindle book to be optioned as a film. Does knowing that affect your reading of the story in any way? How would you cast the film—what actors would you like to see play which characters?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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