1. How reliable a narrator is Mircha Del? 2. Mircha Del says, "Never bet on anything except human stupidity." What does this remark tell us about her? What expectations for the story that follows does this remark create?

3. "And all he was really, was a shaggy, rough-voiced old man—fifty anyway, surely—who sang dirty songs and called me 'big girl.' In a way, that's all he was," Mircha Del says about Sirit Byar.

What point is she trying to make?

4. "The singing is what matters, big girl,' he said. 'Not for whom.'" What does this comment reveal about Sirit Byar's personality? What point is he making?

5. That the last song "is always answered" is revealed midway through The Last Song of Sirit Byar. How is this expectation used to create suspense? When do you realize what Sirit Byar's last song...