Saint Maybe, by Anne Tyler
(Tansley Reads Rating: 68%)
Icebreaker: Have you ever just walked
into an unfamiliar or unknown place of worship for a service? How did that go?
St. Maybe Discussion Questions
- (p. 8) “They believed
that every part of their lives was absolutely wonderful … Bee treated [problems]
with eye rolling good humour … How Claudia Totalled the Car, How Ian Got
Suspended From First Grade.” – Ian sometimes suspects things are not as
good as his mother wants to see i.e. father a joke at the High School,
Danny not a success, sister left school to get married and have kids “Then Ian readjusted” – pg. 9. Why does Ian have to change his view of
life? Is it a matter of how we view
ourselves vs how others view us? Is
Bee deluded or just a positive thinker?
- Why does Ian want to find something wrong with
Lucy? Why
was Danny so vulnerable to Ian’s words?
a) What was Lucy’s secret
life? Was she “just” shoplifting, or were there other men in her life?
b) Should Ian have told Danny his suspicions of Lucy? Sooner? Never?
- What does the Church of the
Second Chance mean to Ian? (see p 211)
- Was Rev. Emmett
right in his advice to Ian to give up his plans for life and raise the
kids?
a) Was this a call from God
for Ian to live the life he was meant to live?
b) Pg. 190 Ian has a vision of leaving the three children
in a ditch by a road but then feels a deep sense of loss. Do you think Ian would or should have given
the children away if he could have found someone to take them?
c) Did he come to regret his choice or in the long run is
he glad of it?
- Why doesn’t Ian feel forgiven?
a) P 225 he questions Rev. Emmett about
when he’ll be forgiven and is told he has it wrong; he must forgive Danny and
Lucy. Does he manage that? (see pp 321 & 337, visions of them).
- Were the Bedloes supportive
enough of Lucy & her family after Danny’s death? Why?
- Much of the books
seems to have to do with clearing away various kinds of clutter –
spiritual and emotional as well as physical; even memories – so that what
is useful and important is at hand. What are some of the bits and pieces
that Ian and his family need to be free of?
a) After Bee dies, the house
falls apart, even though it had seemed that she didn’t contribute a lot to its
maintenance over the last several years of her life. Finally, a Clutter
Counselor is hired. Would you ever hire a Clutter Counselor? Want to be one?
- Do you think Doug is useless
with a purpose? Why does he like going to “the foreigners’” house?
- Why is Rev. Emmett so
fascinating to people?
- P 177 –“… What I hate about
churches…They think they know the answers…It’s the people who don’t know the answers who are
going to heaven, I tell you.” What are the questions? Who has the answers?
If not the church then who does?
- What do you think the title of
the book “Saint Maybe” means? “King Careful, Mr. Look-Both-Ways, Saint
Maybe” – pg. 264
- Is there anything in this book to which you
personally can relate? Is there any advice or ideas you can take and apply
to your own life?
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