Book Group Discussion Questions
- When Allie learns that Tom has won the 550-million-dollar jackpot—the first time he’s played, with a number he and Rune picked—she says it was “an act of God” and Tom says, “Like an earthquake or a tsunami.” How do their responses reflect their personalities? What will this mean as their relationship evolves?
- What does Allie’s reaction to Tom’s blindness tell us about her?
- What is Allie blind to? In their relationship and their situation? What does Tom see that Allie does not.
- In the first chapter, Allie says of Tom, “I felt off-kilter, like he was somebody I didn’t want to disappoint with my ordinary self.” What’s wrong, in Allie’s opinion, with her “ordinary self?”
- Why do you think Tom recites James Wright’s “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island Minnesota” for Allie? What does it tell us about Tom? What does Allie’s reaction tell us about Allie?
- What does Tom’s angry reaction to the break-in reveal about him? How does this play out in his relationship with Allie?
- How does Allie feel about her job as “a part-time librarian?” How is “Part-time Librarian” a part of her self-image—both positive and negative—and what role does it play in the story.
- Allie’s friendship with Margo is a key to both their personalities. What do they provide for each other? Who is the most conservative?
- A critical element of the plot hinges on the reactions of many different characters to a big lottery winner. Which reaction is most like what yours would be?
- What role does D.B. Harper, “Mr. Tall, Dark & Unfaithful, Esquire,” Allie’s reprehensible ex, have in the story?
- As the plot unfolds, quite a number of people die.How do Allie’s reactions to those deaths reveal her character and her changing mindset? And how about that Sammy R.?
- Who is Allie at the beginning of the story? And at the end? How has she changed ? How has she not? How has Tom changed? How has he not?