Sharlee Dieguez | Author
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Jessie and Tweets are mesmerized by seeing their first circus. Relate your memories of seeing a circus as a child.
2. In the time that elapsed since the era in which this novel is set, the attraction of the circus seems to have declined. Certainly there are fewer sideshows today. Why?
3. Jessie and Tweets lost their parents at a very young age and were left to face extremely difficult circumstances. How well did they cope with this? How important do you think their surrogate circus "family" was to their formation?
4. Throughout the story Jessie cares for her sister and is protective. On the other hand, Tweets feels that Jessie has been hiding behind her. Who is taking care of whom?
5. Are relationships between siblings typically as strong as protrayed here? Did you find Dieguez's portrayal of the bond between the sister to be believable? Has the advent of a quicker-paced lifestyle and an increasingly mobile society led to a loosening of bonds between siblings?
6. Before recognizing that her beard could provide some financial security for her and her sister, Jessie is ashamed of the whiskers. Is the beard a symbol of beauty, or lack thereof? How much importance do you bestow upon physical beauty in your everyday situations, consciously and unconsciously?
7. Jessie eventually becomes secure with her abundant facial hair and is surrounded by a tight-knit group of circus performers with similar oddities. Could each member survive on their own in life? To what degree do they act as a family, finding safety in numbers to make life more tolerable?
8. Circus management certainly embraced Jessie and encouraged her to grow the beard? Were they doing her a favor, or exploiting her, or both in some odd way? How did ou feel about the disparity between the life enjoyed by J. Cole and the circus management vis-a-vis the life afforded the circus performers?
9. Discuss the sexual awakening of both Jessie and Tweets? Did any elements of their sexual awakenings disturb you? Do other characters experience an awakening of any sort?
10. Gender themes are central to this story. Did the book make you assess your own preceonceptions about gender identities and sexual relatioships in any way?
11. How are the men protrayed in the book? Consider Rebel Pierce, J. Cole, Gregori, John Beasley, William Harding, and others. Do you see any pattern among Dieguez's assignment of intregrity to these characters?
12. In light of the themes explored in this novel, how do you feel about Dieguez's use of language? Was it suitable to the story, tame, or too graphic? Does unconventional language serve as a barrier to telling a good story and delivering a meaningful message?