The Whitest Wall
by Jodee Kulp
List Price: $14.95
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780963707260
Publisher: Better Endings New Beginnings
Jodee Kulp has created a new third-person Catcher in the Rye, capturing the chaotic turmoil of culturally-muddled miscommunication and FAS brain fog of lost-boy Kevin, a 21-year-old going-on-ten jailed for murder, seemingly by his own matter-of-fact confession. The Whitest Wall is a worthy read, a trip into a novel world, written with entertainment quality as vivid as a screenplay with a multitude of metaphors for interpretation and meaning. This tantalizing tale should engage youthful readers and provoke discussion among those of high-school age and older. Caulfield, move over, there is much more to tell!
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1. Discuss the significance of the whitest wall? Do you have a whitest wall?
2. Which characters had brain injuries and how did they occur? How do you think it affected their lives?
3. Do you believe Doc’s murder was accidental? What do you think really happened?
4. How did the author illustrate the realities of common visible prejudice in comparison of an invisible disability?
5. Do you believe the whitest wall Kevin experienced was made up? Why?
6. Do you believe Kevin will be incarcerated or released? When?
7. Discuss how life experiences in the past can cloud the reality of the present?
8. How does Gunner influence Q’s life? Do you believe this is possible?
9. How do you believe LaMar will handle his new reality?
10. What do you believe is Ma Lu’s mission in Washington DC? What secret has she been hiding?
11. What insights have you gained by reading The Whitest Wall? Has it changed your life or perception in any way?
12. The Whitest Wall contains parallel characters, who are they and how are they similar? Different?
13. What are the metaphors the author uses in The Whitest Wall?
14. Gunner left Q with unanswered riddles? Did he figure them all out?
15. What is the symbolism of the cover?
16. What is the definition of Bootleg?
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"What you don't know won't hurt you is a lie... Fiction, as C.S. Lewis would say, adds to reality, not just describes it. It enriches daily life and irrigates the deserts of our lives. Jodee Kulp is so adept at casting the players in The Whitest Wall and so passionate a story teller you will look at your neighbor through different eyes than ever before."
— Mac McConnell, author, "Forever Changed", "Bozra"
"An inside view of FASD I am overcome with the manner in which Jodee was able to thread together racism, poverty, abuse, fetal alcohol, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder with smoothness that did not confuse the reader."
— Ruth A. Rice, FASD Program Director, White Earth
"This is a must read book for everyone as it's a topic that has been in the closet for too long. Jodee's book will open everyone's eyes that FASD is a very serious issue that we all need to become better educated about as well as develop services for those impacted by it. I can't wait for Book 2."
— Glenys DiLissio Executive Director, 08/13/2008
