These questions contain plot spoilers!
1. Garrett believes he is dead. Sara believes she is responsible for Misty’s death. Misty believes Sara bears ill will toward her and her children. Marina and Dylan believe their mother committed suicide. Each of these beliefs contains some truths tangled up with some falsehoods. What makes it so difficult to sort out truth from untruth in the things a person believes? Consider such factors as family history, age, personal experiences, time, inaccessible facts, wishful thinking, and so on.
2. At any time did you believe that the narrator was Misty? What did you feel when the true narrator was revealed? Describe a time when you discovered that something you believed to be true was proven false. What emotions did the discovery stir up in you? Relief? Confusion? Anger? Happiness? Betrayal? Disbelief? Was it difficult to let go of the old belief? Why?
3. “This is how we all die,” Garrett says. “The first wheel of our lives slips off the pavement on the day we learn how to lie to ourselves. The second wheel goes when we discover that lying gives us something we need, even if only for a little while. And then we are destabilized. From there we fall and fall.” What do you think Garrett means?
4. When Dylan won’t accept that Sara is not his mother, Sara decides that lying about it might be best for Dylan. What factors bring her to this conclusion? Is lying to someone ever more loving than telling the truth? How were Garrett’s lies motivated by love?
5. “This is the truth,” says Garrett. “We all tell the stories that we want to believe. We tell them for so long that we forget what we really know. Occasionally we convince others to believe them too.” Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
6. Ian claims, “I believe that God has given me a thousand chances to look at people and see what I might give them instead of what they might give me. They don’t exist to forgive me. I exist to love them.” How does this belief distinguish him from Sara and Garrett, who are desperate for the forgiveness of their own sins?
7. Is ignorance bliss? Is knowledge freedom? How might the truth of their mother’s fate forever change the lives of Marina and Dylan, for better or worse?
8. How do you define grace? How might Garrett, Sara, or Misty define it?