Follow Me
by Joanna Scott
List Price: $14.99
Pages: 448
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780316051682
Publisher: Back Bay Books
On a summer day in 1946 Sally Werner, the precocious young daughter of hardscrabble Pennsylvania farmers, secretly accepts her cousin's invitation to ride his new motorcycle. Like so much of what follows in Sally's life, it's an impulsive decision with dramatic and far-reaching consequences. Soon she abandons her home to begin a daring journey of self-creation, the truth of which she entrusts only with her granddaughter and namesake, six decades later. But when young Sally's father --- a man she has never known --- enters her life and offers another story altogether, she must uncover the truth of her grandmother's secret history.
Boldly rendered and beautifully told, in Follow Me Joanna Scott has crafted a paean to the American tradition of re-invention and a sweeping saga of timeless and tender storytelling.
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1. Discuss Sally’s decision to abandon her baby. What is her reasoning? What motivates her?
2. What role does religion and spirituality play in Follow Me ? How is Sally influenced by her parents’ fundamentalism?
3. How would you characterize Joanna Scott’s prose style? To what extent does the style infl uence your impression of the characters and the story?
4. What do you think the novel is suggesting about the power imbalance between men and women across the different time periods that are depicted?
5. What role does the Tuskee River play in Follow Me ?
6. Who are the Tuskawali, and why are they called “the sacred incarnations of fate” (page 9)?
7. To what extent is young Sally a reliable narrator? Describe the author’s literary technique of using a pastiche of voices and stories to account for a single life.
8. How would you describe young Sally’s sense of morality? What does the author seem to be saying about the importance of seeking individual happiness?
9. What does Sally’s life story say about the process by which identity is shaped? To what extent is she a product of her circumstances and to what extent is she shaped by her own decisions and actions?
10. Does Sally’s personality fundamentally change in the course of the novel?
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