Operation Book Club discussion

Here's the discussion thread for Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee! Discussion day is Sunday, September 4. Discussion questions to come!

Qs! THESE ARE TERRIBLE I'M SORRY i'll come back and edit this if i'm hit with divine inspiration

1. Why do you think the boys didn’t tell Sammy and Annamae that they knew they were girls?
2. What did you think of the romance between Sammy and West? Realistic, well developed, etc.?
3. Did you think Stacey Lee did a good job at creating a diverse host of characters, or did the diversity feel ‘forced’?
4. Did you like Stacey Lee’s use of dialect/vernacular in the dialogue?
5. Since Sammy and Annamae had such different beliefs - Annamae being a Christian, Sammy believing in fate and using the Chinese Zodiac - did you find their friendship believable?
6. To your knowledge, was it historically accurate?
7. Were you satisfied with the conclusion, or did you feel like too much was left open-ended?

Full disclosure: I did not like this book (I rated it one star), nor did I finish it.

1. Why do you think the boys didn’t tell Sammy and Annamae that they knew they were girls?

They probably thought it was funny. I'm guessing they wanted to see how long the charade could go on for.

2. What did you think of the romance between Sammy and West? Realistic, well developed, etc.?

West kind of reminded me a bit of Grant Ward from Agents of Shield, oddly enough...only less well developed. He was definitely the least interesting of the trio, and while I didn't hate the romance between Sammy and West, I also just didn't...care? At all? It all felt so contrived, like another example of forced heterosexuality that I just didn't care about one way or another. Plus, I felt like it was such a cop out for Stacey Lee to have West know all along that Sammy was a girl - she missed a great opportunity.

3. Did you think Stacey Lee did a good job at creating a diverse host of characters, or did the diversity feel ‘forced’?

Definitely! And it was historically accurate, in this sense! I know that there was a significant Chinese population in Idaho, so the idea of Chinese people in the Wild West is definitely not forced. Same with Peety, and of course Annamae.

4. Did you like Stacey Lee’s use of dialect/vernacular in the dialogue?

I liked this! I felt like it was a good way to distinguish the characters. I hate when authors incorporate accents into their writing, but since this was just dialect/vernacular it worked really well!

5. Since Sammy and Annamae had such different beliefs - Annamae being a Christian, Sammy believing in fate and using the Chinese Zodiac - did you find their friendship believable?

I thought this was sweet, though I didn't like how we had to keep being reminded of just how Christian Annamae was. Same with Sammy.

6. To your knowledge, was it historically accurate?

As a former history major, I am ashamed to say I have no idea! Except for the diversity, as I mentioned above.

7. Were you satisfied with the conclusion, or did you feel like too much was left open-ended?

So...I didn't finish this book, but Rachel told me what happened in the end, and it makes this whole plot feel like filler. The whole point of Sammy's journey is to find Trask and get to California and in the end...nothing happens in that regard? Like, basically the whole thing was her falling in love with West (though when that happened I have no idea). That's it. The whole thing from start to finish felt like Stacey Lee kept coming up with random scenarios to fill up pages, but none of it contributed to the main plot (which was weak to begin with).

i thought this book was okay - there were moments that were sweet and heartfelt, but for a large part i thought it seemed kind of directionless and like the stakes were never really high enough. it also seemed like a lot of things just came way too easy to the characters - i mentioned this in my brief review but i'll mention it again because it's something i know a lot about and something that really annoyed me - annamae riding princesa 'like a nubian queen' after only a couple of weeks annoyed me to no end because of how unbelievable it was! horses who are that high strung need a firm hand, period, and if you've never ridden a horse before, you are not going to be able to get to that level in that short a period. anyway, that's just one example, but that's the sort of thing that started to turn me off this book. the characters went through some seriously tough stuff, but it never felt serious enough to warrant my emotional investment.

1. Why do you think the boys didn’t tell Sammy and Annamae that they knew they were girls?

i think the 'point' was that they accepted them no matter what and trusted them enough that they accepted that there must be a reason the girls were keeping this secret from them... i just don't think it was particularly realistic that they should not only keep their knowledge from the girls, but also not even discuss it with one another?! at least, i don't think they did - i think it was revealed that they all found out about them being girls at different times.

2. What did you think of the romance between Sammy and West? Realistic, well developed, etc.?

ugh i HATED IT. neither realistic nor well developed. i genuinely fail to see what either of these characters sees in the other one. west was the most boring character ever. i was talking to chelsea about this, who said it would have been great if the twist had been that west was gay and fell in love with sammy as a boy - that would have been so much more interesting!

3. Did you think Stacey Lee did a good job at creating a diverse host of characters, or did the diversity feel ‘forced’?

this was the best thing about this book! i agree with hadeer that it was certainly believable and didn't feel forced at all.

4. Did you like Stacey Lee’s use of dialect/vernacular in the dialogue?

this is something that's always so hit or miss for me, and it depends on how well the author pulls it off. i think stacey lee did a great job! it was realistically done without being too distracting.

5. Since Sammy and Annamae had such different beliefs - Annamae being a Christian, Sammy believing in fate and using the Chinese Zodiac - did you find their friendship believable?

i definitely liked their friendship. i wanted to love it more than i did (i mean, female friendships in literature!!! between two woc leads, no less!!!!) but there was something holding me back. i'm guessing it was just the fact that i didn't feel particularly emotionally invested in the story at all.

6. To your knowledge, was it historically accurate?

this is a time period i used to know way more about than i do now, soooo i'm not 100% sure! but it seemed historically accurate, for the most part?!

7. Were you satisfied with the conclusion, or did you feel like too much was left open-ended?

i agree with hadeer - what exactly was the point of mr trask and sammy's mother's bracelet if that was never resolved...? i mean, i thought it was fine that the book ended before they made it to the west coast - the book can only be so long. but as it was, it seemed like stacey lee was setting it up for a sequel, which, i don't think was the intention...? or maybe she's planning on a sequel somewhere down the line, i'm not positive.

I actually enjoyed this one and would probably give it 3.5 stars based on enjoyment, but I definitely agree that it was lighter and fluffier than I expected for a book that has near rape and self-defense killing as the basis for an initial friendship between two girls. It's been awhile since I rode, so I didn't notice it until Rachel pointed out, but I agree it was unrealistic that despite never being on a horse before and being somewhat scared of them she was able to ride a high-strung horse competently in such a short amount of time. Despite enjoying the book, I have a hard time singling out why I liked it, so I think it was largely a case of right book at the right time and catching me in a (n extremely) rare lighter reading mood.

1. Why do you think the boys didn’t tell Sammy and Annamae that they knew they were girls?
I think it's partly a plot device designed to raise the stakes (sure they're accepted now, but what if the boys knew that they were girls!), but it doesn't really work, especially when you start to see West and Sammy and Peety and Annnamae pairing off and know that it's going to go that way. I agree with Rachel that it was weird the men wouldn't discuss knowing until after all of them figured it out, and I think it's a little strange that since they had completely accepted the girls for who they were, that they wouldn't at least test the water and drop some hints that they were okay with things if not outright confessing. I'm guessing they were trying to make the girls feel more comfortable, but I thought it went on too long. Once it was clear they were family you'd think they would be honest with eachother more quickly.

2. What did you think of the romance between Sammy and West? Realistic, well developed, etc.?
I wish it had been better developed. I didn't mind West, but I agree that he was probably the least-well rounded character in the book, so it was a shame to see that when characters like Annamae and Sammy, and I'd argue Peety, were more fleshed out. For awhile earlier in the novel when West was all shifty and I believe Cay was telling Sammy about his past and his father, I was REALLY hoping the discomfort and the clear crush West had on Sammy was West believing she actually was a boy and coming to terms with his sexuality. Based on the time period and the way the book ended up heading in I lost that hope pretty quickly, but I really wish she had gone down that route, because I think it would have been a much more interesting character and conflict to deal with.

3. Did you think Stacey Lee did a good job at creating a diverse host of characters, or did the diversity feel ‘forced’?
I thought she did an excellent job and it didn't feel forced to me. I liked that the cultural differences meant that they didn't always view things the same way, but no one was viewed as right or wrong for it. I also really loved the group dynamic. I do think it's a shame that West wasn't explored with more depth, but I generally liked the interaction between the group as a whole and the found family sense to them.

4. Did you like Stacey Lee’s use of dialect/vernacular in the dialogue?
I'm very on the fence about dialect in general. In some cases it works, in other cases I find it really distracting and unnecessary. In this case I thought it worked very well though.

5. Since Sammy and Annamae had such different beliefs - Annamae being a Christian, Sammy believing in fate and using the Chinese Zodiac - did you find their friendship believable?
I did find it believable and I think it made sense that it was really a partnership born out of desperation and bonding over a shared traumatic experience, but it grows quickly into a real bond where they consider giving up their goals in order to stay together. It felt like a real sisterhood. I do wish the book had focused a little more on the two of them in the later part though instead of on the romance aspect. I agree with Hadeer that while I enjoyed the different religious backgrounds and was glad they were included in the story since it resulted in unique perspectives, I thought the constant reminding that Annamae was Christian and Sammy believed in the Chinese zodiac was a bit over the top.

6. To your knowledge, was it historically accurate?
I'm embarrassed to say that pretty much all I know of this period in the U.S. is from oregon trail, so I have NO idea, but I found it believable!

7. Were you satisfied with the conclusion, or did you feel like too much was left open-ended?
I liked that they had a happy ending, but I agree that there was a lot that was never resolved and I didn't understand why the emphasis on Trask if they weren't going to pursue it in the end? It made me think of that whole 'maybe the real journey was the friends we made along the way' trope, which I find really frustrating in fiction when a book has been focused on something for awhile. It was just all tied off so neatly.