Reading Guide

1. This story begins in Las Vegas, “Sin City.” Yet Silas himself is a figure of purity, seemingly immune to the sins around him. Indeed, he is falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. How is such an innocent character able to hold our complete attention?
2. The image of ashes recurs in the book, as do tornados, birds, guitars, cars, fish, and stew. What do these seemingly unrelated visual cues have in common? How do they work together to create an artistic unity?
3. Bounty hunters pursue Silas – he is “valuable” as a property if he can be taken alive. What other ways are there in which we put value on lives?
4. At one point in the novel, Genevieve says that “a true song isn’t an answer, it’s a question.” Is the same true of a book? Of a story?
5. The elderly appear frequently in this book, and are frequently sources of wisdom and counsel. Yet children are also seen as wise figures, for example in the Peru section (p. 187-211). How are we to reconcile this disconnect?
6. Landscapes, specifically that of America, plays a key role in the book. Would it be fair to call the land itself a character in this story?
7. In what ways do the characters in this book accept American values and culture? In what ways do they defy it? In what ways do they make crude, imperfect compromise with it?
8. Evangeline’s story of her lover’s departure is said to “hold anyone who hears it footdumb, immoveable, as it unfolds.” Was this your reaction as you read these pages?
9. What images in this novel create the most vivid impression of the American prarie? Of Tunisia? Of Sardinia? Of Peru? Of Normandy?
10. What insights into your own heart does this book offer?