The Beach Book Bundle: 3 Novels for Summer Reading: Breathing Lessons, The Alphabet Sisters, Firefly Summer (83 page)
Authors: Anne Tyler,Monica Mcinerney
LEA:
We’re kind of like four intersecting circles (damn, if we were all together I’d draw you a diagram right now)—lots of bits overlapping, but also the bits of us that are our other lives, that we’re proud of, protective of, et cetera. I remember thinking when I was back in South Australia after Dad died that I could just stay there foreeever and that would be fine. But then there’s this little voice and this little finger saying, “C’mon, c’mon, there’s other things you have to do with your life, c’mon …” You think, oh, it’s hard and I miss everyone and I feel torn but I have to do this (and let’s be honest I quite like it most of the time) but I do miss them.
MARIE:
Mmm, but sometimes it’s hard being the ones in the home circle. It’s easier for you to put niggle bits and annoyances onto the other person because you’re in a bad mood and they happen to be around. Or you’re constantly not meeting their expectations rather than just failing every Christmas. That’s not in any way to diminish how fraught it can be coming home—been there, done that, observed it, sympathize et cetera. I agree very much, too, about the Dad time. I think it gave us new respect for one another (watching what each of you gave to him—shaves, bed baths, conversations, pain management, humor). I also learned more about and from each of you than I ever imagined. I remember a particular conversation one night with Lea that really changed my world view about Dad. I realized the rest of the family (or most of you) had moved on from our past way of dealing with/being with him, and I had to step over a bridge and grow up in a way. That’s a great thing to have someone actually give you, rather than having to work it out slowly for yourself. I think that happens a lot with my sisters—sudden insights borrowed and stolen!
LEA:
I agree totally with Marie regarding sudden insights—and the other side of that is that when you unknowingly/unwittingly “give them” you tend to get them at the same time. It was in talking with you about Dad that I made big leaps too. I think I was about a half a step ahead of you—or maybe we were pairs in a three-legged race!
MAURA:
Marie? What niggly bits? Did I miss something? I know you hate everyone else in the family but I thought what we had was beautiful!
MONICA:
I think there are flashpoints or triggers that come up in surprising ways. Something like wanting Mum’s undivided attention or feeling picked on or left out or misunderstood comes from childhood and still hangs around. I can be rational about situations, usually, but sometimes I have an immediate deep emotional response inside me that surprises me. Alarms me, even.
LEA:
It’s primal, sweetie, and as such it involves, sometimes, a simple desire to kill.
MARIE:
Guys, sorry, hell hour has descended … baby crying, Ruby screaming, Ulli trying to show me eight different ways of bouncing a ball against a wall … Can I get back to you on stuff or rejoin you later if you’re still going? My fave story for today, by the way—not sisters but siblings. We were outside, Rafael [new baby] lying on the lawn, Ruby [three years old] riding her three-wheeler bike. “Can you put his feet there, Mum?” she asked. “I want to use his feet as a road.”
MONICA:
[Later] If we had all had a big fight, in the way the three Quinlans did in
The Alphabet Sisters,
do you think it would have taken us three years to reunite?
LEA:
I think that question is answered by the comments about Dad’s dying and where that has taken us all. I think we all need space from time to time. Including you who are all physically nearby.
MAURA:
I can’t think of anything that any of you could do that would upset me so badly that I’d give up the laughs and the other good things about knowing you.
MARIE:
I
can
actually imagine us falling out for three years or more if we fought over the same thing the Quinlans did—one of us “taking” another’s man. I can imagine that would bust things up incredibly. But I can’t imagine any of my sisters doing that. I know that’s easy to say and that one shouldn’t deny true love and all the stuff that Carrie and Matthew went through, but I think it would be a taboo for us. I can, however, picture other smaller betrayals—indeed I know we’ve all inflicted them along the way—but I think we’d be far more likely to disguise how hurt we were (and bitch madly behind backs) rather than blow things up publicly. We’d much rather be seen as stoic than sensitive, I think.
MONICA:
I can’t stand not talking to one of you for a week, let alone three years. I can see exactly why it happened to the Quinlans, because they needed that space from one another, but I think we’ve found that space in different ways.
Final question: Have you had people saying: “Is
The Alphabet Sisters
about you and your sisters?” What did you say and did you mind being asked?
LEA:
Yes, people have asked if it is about us. I just say (again and again) “Monica knows we would kill her if she modeled any of them on us.” I also point out that you cleverly (sensibly?) made none of them look like us. I think you were very clever the way you wrote it. There are some great stories that you have, of course, stolen from our
shared
childhood, however the ones you picked, you write about so beautifully and funnily that I can but say you have done us proud. And you have stayed right away from any character traits or any more important or serious stories that might implicate us, so to speak.
MAURA:
Crikey. where to begin? Here’s what happens:
PERSON:
I’ve just finished/am in the middle of Monica’s new book.
ME:
Oh, yes, and what do you think of it?
PERSON:
I’m really enjoying it. So which sister are you?
ME:
Maura.
PERSON:
No, I mean, in the book?
ME:
None of them, obviously.
PERSON:
Oh, come on, you must be one of them.
(At this stage, conversation deteriorates into “am not/are so” debacle.)
MARIE:
Someone told me today they had just read the book and tried to work out which sister was me. I don’t mind at all being asked. I love it that my sister has written a book and that people like reading it enough to get caught up in the characters. I love stumbling upon little stories in the book that are based on stuff we did as kids. And I couldn’t get over that I sobbed and sobbed at the end, even while thinking, “For God’s sake, your sister made this up!”
By the way, I just asked my daughters if they think my sisters and me get on. Ulli responded, “Yeah, derr!”
READING GROUP QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. The Alphabet Sisters begins and ends with chapters from Bett’s perspective. Why do you think that author Monica McInerney chose to frame the novel in this way? Do you think that Bett is the guiding narrative voice in the story? Why or why not?
2. Which sister do you feel most sympathetic toward when the book begins? Did your allegiance shift as the story unfolded?
3. The girls’ grandmother, Lola, is a larger-than-life personality. What lessons have her son and grandchildren learned from her? What would you say are the guiding principles of Lola’s life?
4. Lola christens her grandchildren “The Alphabet Sisters.” What does this group identity mean to Anna, Bett, and Carrie? How does each of them react to being on stage and in the spotlight?
5. How does Lola’s invitation to her eightieth birthday spur each sister to make a change in her life? What do you think their parents felt about the daughters’ feud? Why didn’t the sisters’ parents get more involved?
6. How does each sister resent and admire the other? How did their time apart strengthen their individual personalities and their bonds with one another? What detrimental effects does the feud have on the sisters?
7. “Still avoiding the truth after all these years?” Anna asks Bett. Do you think Bett is guilty of Anna’s accusation? Why or why not? What unpleasant revelations do her sisters muffle about their lives?
8. “Lola used to talk to them as if they were her co-conspirators, her equals,” remembers Bett. How is Lola’s attitude toward her grandchildren unconventional? In which ways is she traditional? How does her mindset differ from that of her daughter-in-law, Geraldine?
9. What inspires Lola to force her granddaughters to produce her musical? Why do they agree to do it? How is music the glue that binds them together?
10. After Ellen is attacked by a dog, how does her personality change? In which ways is outward appearance an important element in Anna’s life, both before and after Ellen’s attack? How do her sisters also grapple with the ramifications of their looks?
11. How does the love triangle between Bett, Carrie, and Matthew affect each of its participants? What does Carrie love about Matthew? How does this compare to the way that Bett feels about him?
12. Discuss Anna’s husband, Glenn. How does she characterize her relationship with him at the beginning of their time together? What about their marriage now?
13. By the end of the book, each sister has discovered—or rediscovered—her perfect match. How are Richard and Anna, Matthew and Carrie, and Daniel and Bett complementary to one another? How does each couple approach love and romance differently? How does this compare and contrast to the relationship of the women’s parents, Jim and Geraldine?
14. What does small-town life mean to the family? How does their position as proprietors of a motel give them a unique vantage point on the goings-on of the town itself? How does their lifestyle give them a sense of stability? Of adventure?
15. Were you surprised when Anna’s illness was revealed to be terminal cancer? How does her diagnosis change the family? How do they rally around her?
16. Bett is shocked to learn that the stories spun about her grandfather are untrue. How does this revelation give you, as a reader, a different perspective on Lola? How does Bett react to her grandmother’s deception? Why do you think that Lola “especially hates” to lie to Bett?
17. Have you been in a similar position with a family feud that seemed irresolvable? How did your family solve the problem? Did it help or hurt when others—like Lola—intervened?
18. What do you envision next for Bett, Carrie, and Lola? Would you like to see a sequel of this book that follows one or more of the characters in The Alphabet Sisters? Which ones?
Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
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New York, New York 10036
This work was first published in Great Britain in 1987 by Century Hutchinson Ltd.
Copyright © 1988 by Maeve Binchy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
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Reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte Press
eISBN: 978-0-440-33759-1
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