Consider a person in your life who you would connect with "for one more day" if you could. Explain why, what you might ask that person, what you might do with that person. Discuss the repeated references in the latter half of the book to Chick's doing things "like a man." Are the comments ironic or genuine? Does he admire his father for teaching him how to do things this way, or himself for going along with them - or does he resent them? Where does his having been taught by Posey to shave, something he says he should have learned to do from his father, fit into this picture?

Discuss the portrayal of motherhood defined by the character of Posey - a woman who essentially sacrifices her life in order to make good lives for her children. Is this portrayal a throwback to...