Tepper Reads discussion

Hello Tepper Readers,

If you're following along on our reading guide, you should be at page 141 today.

In the most recent sections of the novel, we meet both Jude and Reese. Jude is Desiree's daughter, and we'll learn more about Reese as the book goes on. Below are some questions/discussion prompts about each of these characters:

Jude

Kids can be cruel. Almost all of us were teased or made fun of at some point growing up. Were you able to put yourself in Jude’s shoes, and empathize with her situation? Did it remind you of something that happened to you when you were young?

And a little later on in the book...

Certain passages cut like a knife. “…she couldn’t imagine any boy loving her; it was enough that Lonnie noticed her at all.” (Page 112) Regardless of how your life and circumstances differ from Jude, is this a sentiment you can understand?

Reese

“How real could a person be if you could shed her in a thousand miles?” (Page 102) And on the next page, “No one could tell that he’d ever been her, and sometimes, he could hardly believe it either.” At the beginning of this section we see Reese transitioning using the only ways available to him at the time; dress, binding, and illegal steroids. We all try to reinvent ourselves when we go to a new place, but Reese gets to become himself for the first time in his life. Can you empathize with Reese? How so?

Feel free to respond to these questions, or share any other reflections you might have, in the discussion below.

In India the now (supposedly) abolished Caste system also tended to look down on the darker skinned individuals, and as one of the darker people in my family I relate to many of the not intentionally rude but offhanded comments about my darkness from a lot of my family. It was always the goal to become more "fair skinned." However, as a child I never paid any attention to it, and I can't say I relate to Jude's sentiments.

I can't relate to Reese really in that level of change and reinvention he went through, but I think there are times like moving to a new city, going to a new school where you try to reinvent or change.

Tenny wrote: "In India the now (supposedly) abolished Caste system also tended to look down on the darker skinned individuals, and as one of the darker people in my family I relate to many of the not intentional..."

Thank you for sharing about your own experiences, Tenny. I'm glad that what happened in your childhood didn't affect you the same way it did Jude.

And you know what, I totally get not completely relating to Reese, but I think what you've done is empathize with him. And to my mind, that's one of the greatest outcomes of reading. Books get us into the headspace and experience of people we may never get to meet, which is why they work so well for empathy building.