In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a
young woman falls in love -- and learns how sorrow can lead to an
understanding of joy.
Katie, the narrator, has relocated to Missouri with her distant,
occasionally abusive father, and she feels very much alone: her
much-loved mother is dead; her new school is unaccepting of her;
and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When
she accidentally falls through the ice while skating, she meets
Jimmy. He is handsome, far older than she, and married, but she is
entranced. As their relationship unfolds, so too does Katie''s
awareness of the pain and intensity first love can bring.
Beautifully written in Berg''s irresistible voice,
Joy
School portrays the soaring happiness of real love, the
deep despair one can feel when it goes unrequited, and the
stubbornness of hope that will not let us let go. Here also is
recognition that love can come in many forms and offer many
different things.
Joy School illuminates, too, how
the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons
that really matter.
About
Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg''s first
novel, Andre Dubus said, "Elizabeth Berg writes with humor and a
big heart about resilience, loneliness, love and hope. And the
transcendence that redeems." The same will be said of
Joy
School, Elizabeth Berg''s most luminous novel to
date.
From the Hardcover edition.
1.
Joy
School is set in the late 1950s or early ''60s. Why do you
think Berg chose this time-frame as the setting for her story?
2. Joy
School is a pre-feminist, baby-boomer coming-of-age story. How
do the role models that young women grow up with today compare to
the role models of Katie''s time? How are young women today
equipped differently to cope with the whole first-crush experience.
How are first-love fantasies of young girls different today than
they were when Katie was growing up?
3. With a dead
mother, a father who flies into sporadic rages, and a sister who
has fled to Mexico, Katie has every excuse for withdrawing into
herself. And yet she continues trying to make connections with
those around her. What keeps Katie from closing herself off to
others? What would you do under similar circumstances?
4. At one point
Katie tells Jimmy that she''ll come see him again the next day, and
he says he''ll be there. "This shocked me," Katie says, "that he
has been there for a while, and that he will be there tomorrow,
just like that." Why do you think Katie is so shocked that Jimmy
will "be there" the next day and the next?
5. Do you
remember your own first crush or first love? How did your
experience compare to Katie''s experience with Jimmy?
6. In describing
Taylor, Katie says "Taylor is a funny person who doesn''t see any
right and any wrong and is too strong to be around." What do you
think she means by this? Have you ever had a friend like
Taylor?
7. One reviewer
has said that Berg "completely nails down the entire universe of
teenage experience in a single high school freshman." Do you
agree?
8. What does
Katie mean when she says "Jimmy will be the place for me to learn
the real happiness. He will be my Joy School."
9. How does
Berg''s portrayal of Katie compare with portrayals of other girls
her age that you might have read about?
10. Katie,
talking about trying to settle into her new surroundings, says "I
have never had such a hard time getting my place in a school. You
wish you could bring a book of directions to yourself that everyone
would read." Why do you suppose she''s having such a hard time with
this particular school? What might Katie have done to fit in
better?
11. Katie tries
to talk to Ginger about some of the problems she''s having in
school. Katie says "I want to say, ''Did you have any trouble in
school with kids being kind of mean to you? If so, what did you do
about it?'' Like an essay question. But when I start to ask, all
that comes out is ''Did you like high school?'' " Why do you think
Katie has such a hard time talking to Ginger about her
problems?
12. What do you
think of the peripheral characters Berg brings into her story:
Taylor Sinn--the beautiful model with a penchant for shoplifting;
Cynthia O''Connell--the classmate with an overbearing control freak
for a mom; and Nona, Cynthia''s dying grandmother who sneaks down
to the kitchen in the dead of night to cook pasta by
candlelight?
13. What does
Katie learn from her experience with Jimmy? In what way is sorrow a
kind of teacher for Katie?
14. What do you
see in Katie''s future?
15. What''s your
opinion about Jimmy''s behavior toward Katie? Do you feel he was
sensitive and caring of her feelings, or rejecting? When Katie
tells him she''s in love with him, he says "I didn''t know..."
Should he have realized that Katie was developing a crush on him?
Was she sending signals that he failed to notice?
16. Do you think
Katie''s crush on Jimmy might have been less heartbreaking if her
mother had been there to help her through it?
17. What do you think was going through Jimmy''s mind when Katie
tells him she loves him? And when he sees the realization in her
eyes that he considers her only a child?