1. How did you feel about Alex at the end of the novel?
2. After Alex disappears, Marc builds something of a mental monument to her, idealizing their relationship and overlooking many aspects of her life. Does Marc really love Alex, or just his idea of her?
3. Who among the characters knows Alex best?
4. Mark resents Ollie and Fran for not trying harder to salvage their marriage. Is his frustration justified considering his own relationship troubles?
5. How accurately do you think Alex’s recounting of Marc’s experience is? How well does she really know him?
6. How does Amelia view the relationship between pain and art?
7. How do you think Alex’s relationship with her daughters was affected by her own tumultuous upbringing?
8. On this page, Amelia writes that she wants to “help” Alex. Is there a clear divide between what Amelia wants for herself and what she wants for Alex?
9. Many of Marc’s friends become frustrated and worried about his ability to accept and move on from Alex’s assumed death. How well do you think he handled the situation?
10. In concealing her identity and obscuring herself from the world, do you think Amelia holds herself accountable for her art and for the harm her pieces have caused?
11. Would you judge Alex’s achievements and abandonment of her children in the same way if she were a man?
12. Is Alex more like Marc or Amelia? What is her true personality?
13. Is Alex’s double life the only way of having it all? Is her devotion to her own happiness selfish? Is it justified by her creative output?
14. Does what Marc finds out about Alex invalidate the happy aspects of their relationship?
15. Is there a line between life and art? Did Alex cross it?
16. What does it mean that Marc turned Alex into the authorities?
17. Is Amelia’s final piece (the exhibition and the written account) art?