Reflect on your reactions to Smith’s Polaroids. What insights did they give you on her narration? Was your impression of a place or event changed when you saw a Polaroid? If so, how?

Smith gives information to the reader through a very limited perspective. Her narration is focused on her subjective experience and it is dream-like. One way in which Smith achieves the dream-like quality of her writing is by focusing the attention of the narrative only gradually.

What significance did you see in the repeated portrayal of coffee consumption? What does coffee symbolize in this book?

The habit of drinking coffee is a source of comfort to Smith, something constant in her life. But there is also an entire culture of coffee-drinking that is important to her. She calls herself a Javahead, planned to write an aria to coffee when she was young, and the...