Fiction

• Short Fiction

• Short Fiction

• Book Club Questions:
  1. Almost right from the beginning of the novel, Dominique comes across as critical, aggressive and abrasive. Does she have any redeeming qualities at all?
  2. How does one explain Dominique's cynical attitude towards art? (p. 25)
  3. What is the significance of the tableau of the "trial of virginity" in the context of the whole novel?
  4. Can Dominique be blamed for leaving David?
  5. What is Max's real motivation for wanting to set Julia up on her own?
  6. What relevance does the biblical story of doubting Thomas have in the context of the whole novel?
  7. Is Neil playing with Dominique's emotions? Is he betraying Lydia?
  8. Are Neil's ghosts in fact like Dominique's: "grey, moot and terribly equivocal"? (p.141)
  9. What load of guilt does each of the characters carry?
  10. How likely is Dominique's theory about prehistoric art? (p.156)
  11. Is it true that "it never really [is] in [our] hands" ?(p.199)
  12. ". . . every day of our lives, we turn our backs while children drown." (p.200) In how many ways is this statement true?
  13. How likely is it that Colin would have forgotten the role he played in his sister's drowning?
  14. Why is it inevitable that Neil return to Lydia?
  15. Does Neil's choice of Lydia over Dominique strike you as heartless?
  16. In what ways, if any, has the experience of the caminó changed Dominique?
  17. Explain the nature of Colin's redemption.
  18. What does this novel have to say about man and the need for compassion?
  19. John Updike has said that, in his stories, John Cheever "gives us back our humanity, enhanced." Can the same be said about Santiago?
  20. Which of the novel's images stands out in your mind?

• Book Club Questions:
  1. 4X4 is told from the revolving points of view of its four main characters. What is gained by this device? What are the risks of using this device?
  2. There's quite a bit of rough language in the novel: does it serve a purpose?
  3. In the novels of Thomas Hardy there are often minor coincidences that have major effects on the lives of the characters. Hardy called these minor events "satires of circumstance." What role do such "satires of circumstance" play in 4X4?
  4. Which of the two brothers do you like better at the outset of the novel?
  5. 4X4 occurs on Good Friday—what significance does this have to the plot of the novel?
  6. One reviewer referred to the events in 4X4 as "the road trip from hell." What do you think was meant by that?
  7. Another reviewer noted that the Dokic family has their share of secrets, and that "these subterranean issues affect the relationships on the surface." What are the secrets and how do they color the relations among the characters?
  8. Toward the end of the novel Darryl says that life is a puzzle that doesn’t always add up? Is this true in the novel? Is it true in life in general?
  9. Do you like the boys' mother, Meg? In what ways is she a sympathetic character? In what ways might you judge her—in what ways does she judge herself?
  10. Jimmy Dokic, the father, plays an important role in the novel, but he is not given a voice, as are the other characters. Why do you think that is?
  11. Over the course of the day that the 4X4 travels from Winnipeg to Thompson there are a number of violent occurrences. How do they contribute to the portraits of the characters and the development of the plot of the novel?
  12. Natives are given quite a bit of treatment in the novel. Are they treated fairly by the other characters? By the author?
  13. Which of the two brothers do you like better as the novel comes toward its conclusion?
  14. One commentator has said that Jimmy Dokic becomes a sympathetic character by the novel's conclusion—do you agree?
  15. Another commentator has said that "the journey north is a metaphor for the story of the Dokices." In what ways is this true?
  16. Darryl has a fantasy about living in Australia—how does it evolve over the course of the novel?
  17. At one point in 4X4 the characters discuss whether or not Canada is a "great country." What is each of their points of view? With whom do you side most?
  18. For the tough hockey player, Darryl, what is the irony of the episode involving the deer? Do you see the brothers differently after this event?
  19. The novelist D.H. Lawrence said that the novel as an art form matters because it reveals to us the dynamic unfolding of relationships between people as they construct their lives. In what ways might that comment apply to 4X4?
  20. One commentator has said that 4X4 is a "tale of unflinching humanity and ultimate redemption." Do you agree? Wherein might the redemption lie?
  21. Which character in the novel made the strongest impression on you?
  22. Is the author better at evoking women or men characters?
  23. It has often been said that non-fiction comforts readers by answering questions but that fiction unsettles readers by asking questions. In 4X4 one of those questions might be, Why does a woman stay with a man who inflicts such damage? What other baffling questions about life does 4X4 ask, but not necessarily answer?
  24. What is the function of the final paragraphs of the novel?
  25. The novel might have ended with another section by the mother, Meg. What might she have thought and said?
  26. "4X4" is a fairly direct and simple title for this novel. What other titles might it have been given?
  27. Which, if any, books does 4X4 remind you of? Movies?

• Book Club Questions:
  1. The real lives of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid have been explored, investigated, sifted, and mythologized in both literature and film for more than one hundred years. What does Robillard add to the weight of volumes by writing about them now – if anything? Why does he include them in Wyoming’s story?
  2. Wyoming's tale is told in four distinct points of view alongside documentary-style interludes, biographical information, and anecdotal history. How does Robillard's inclusion of these different voices affect your experience of the story? Why do you think he chose to reveal the story in this way?
  3. "That’s the way the newspapermen wanted him" (24). In the 1890s and early 1900s, newspapers were the primary source of news in North America. The common practice for newspapermen and editors of this era was to "colour" their reports with their own interpretations and bias. Objectivity was not considered to be important. Publishers even encouraged this cavalier approach to sell more papers. How would this "yellow journalism," as it became known, affect a reader’s world-view? How is this reflected in Robillard’s treatment of Butch and Sundance, or Billy the Kid? How might Wyoming's story be different if portrayed in period newspapers?
  4. It is commonly accepted that Butch and Sundance made their way to Argentina with Etta Place in tow. They bought a ranch and worked it legitimately for years. But for whatever reason, Etta left them and returned to Brown’s Park. Shortly afterward, the two bandits took up their old ways, robbing payroll shipments en route to Bolivian silver mines. According to an Elks Magazine report -- fifteen yeas after the fact -- the bandits were eventually tracked down and surrounded by federal troops in 1908. Sundance was killed in the ensuing gun battle. Butch, mortally wounded, followed him by taking his own life. Nonetheless, even to this day, there are historians who claim that Butch and Sundance were not killed in Bolivia as authorities pronounced. What drives the circulation of these little accepted theories? Is it a quest for historical accuracy, or the need for our heroes to defy death?
  5. "So Butch used his share of the earnings from the Wilcox robbery to have a big meal cooked for the community" (135). How is the Robin Hood factor of the Butch Cassidy myth -- robbing from the rich railroad barons to give to the poor -- a requirement for heroism? What is the likelihood that Cassidy held up trains for the benefit of others and not for personal gain? Would this change your appreciation of him as an outlaw-hero, either way?
  6. "And only in this world could the Butch Cassidys and the Harvey Logans meet and call themselves friends" (40). The Outlaw Trail was full of young men looking for adventure. But it was also populated by the "worst element of society" (38) -- murderers and hired assassins. Even the Pinkerton Detective Agency looked at the criminals differently, dividing them into a special hierarchy. Where is the line between youthful misbehaviour and genuine criminal activity? As a reader, are you pleased when Wyoming leaves unpunished with Veccha and the money, or would you rather have had him brought to justice? Explain your choice.
  7. "Thirty seconds and the myth grew" (123). How have the lives of men like Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Butch and Sundance, been mythologized in our modern lore? Is it possible to separate them from their legends?
  8. "These men lived out the vicarious wishes of a frontier nation quickly running out of room" (35). What is our fascination with outlaws and the lifestyle of the "cowboy-bandit"? Are they truly living out our vicarious lives?
  9. "...they are living out an intricate dance. One where all the steps have been predetermined" (154). Several times throughout the novel, Wyoming experiences a sort of déja-vu which he eventually interprets as fate -- his life recurring over and over again. "And suddenly the significance of his choice...seems cosmically important...a choice he has already made" (155). How do our decisions gain importance if we accept such a world view?
  10. At the end of the novel, Two Bears and his people become "victims to aerial perspective" (169). Can the transformation of the Wild West and the banishing of its frontiersmen be equated with the disappearance of native culture? Are they both equally victims of evolution -- the slow march of time?
  11. "You ought to think about Canada, kid. The West is a vise and somebody’s turning the screw" (41). Wyoming praises Butch for his ability to adapt and outwit the lawmen of the age. However, rather than change his ways entirely, Butch chooses to leave the Outlaw Trail. Is Wyoming wrong about Butch? How else can the man’s decision to leave be explained?
  12. "Two hundred million years ago, this valley was an ocean. And the birds were fish" (140). At the same time that Veccha values history, learning, and archeology, she seems to accept the process of evolution and change. How does her ability to transform save her from the same fate as Webb, Butch and Sundance, or even Two Bears?
  13. "Wyoming remembers that no one spoke in the first seconds after the bear’s death. Its mad dash for sustenance. Dead now because it struggle for survival was at odds with the cowboys and their herd. A fated confrontation. The eternal conflict"(167). As with the death of the bear, Wyoming "harbours no rancour" toward Webb after he is killed by Veccha. How are both deaths similar? How are they different?
  14. "Others have called it the gift. Because they cannot know. Cannot possibly understand what it is like to have the random curiosity of a life stripped away..." (71) In the beginning, Veccha refers to her clairvoyance as a "gift-curse." How is this paradox portrayed in the novel?
  15. "And even though she has possessed her clairvoyance since birth, it is only in the last few days she has come to understand what it is. Not the curse she always believed it to be. Not a gift, either. But a test" (164). How does Veccha come to this conclusion by the end of the novel? How might living day to day be an act of faith for her? An affirmation of the importance of life?
  16. Why would Robillard choose to make Veccha a clairvoyant? How does the ability to forecast the future fit into the story thematically?
  17. "And suddenly he would like very much to have that book. To be able to read the next page" (111). Because Wyoming cannot read, he tends to fetishize books. How is it possible that the right book might actually "have a story like his"? How can books help us navigate our own lives?
  18. How do Two Bears' stories of Napiw, The Old Man, aid him in legislating his own life? How do they offer comfort and hope?
  19. What does the Milk River coulee wall symbolize in the novel -- with its petroglyphs and its pictographs?
  20. "...time and space have broken away from their human constraints and he is at one with all that has been. All that will be" (134). Given the historical nature of the novel, and the importance that the Robillard allows history in his telling of the story, how might this be the author speaking through Wyoming?

• Reviews:
  • I frequently laughed out loud as I read (it occurs to me to note: there is no other way to laugh, is there?) and enjoyed traveling alongside Mason and the colourful characters he meets. —Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This

• Book Club Questions:
  1. This novel opens with a prologue that introduces the town, West Spirit Lake, and the narrator's family. The prologue tells the story of a drowning death at break-up time on the lake. How does this episode foreshadow the main story, which occurs eight years later?
  2. The weather and the cycle of freeze and thaw are touched on frequently. What role does this play in the novel?
  3. Contemporary books about small-town life often emphasize the seamy underside of existence in places where everybody knows everybody else. Geddes also shows us death, gossip and crime. But does the book ultimately make growing up in West Spirit Lake seem good, bad, or something in between? How is the variety of experience conveyed?
  4. The narrator and Mike are something of a team in the novel. So are Katie and Annie. Do other characters in the novel seem somehow paired? Do they offset or balance each other? Given the novel's title, how does the pattern of twos take on special importance?
  5. In certain respects, the novel turns into a mystery. But in the end, the crime involved is far from the one that the two boys dreamed up. Why does Geddes let the boys imaginations about what Sgt. Martin is doing run wild, only to have the reality turn out to be more mundane?
  6. In one of his conversations with the librarian, Mrs. Lund, the narrator gets into an unexpected conversation about the philosopher Rene Descarte's famous dictum, "I think therefore I am." How does this exchange highlight a key preoccupation of the novel?
  7. In the prologue, the narrator hates another boy. Later in the book, he grows to hate Sgt. Martin. How can we assess his grounds for hating either the bully or the police officer? Do either of them deserve their fate? What does the narrator's capacity for hatred tell us about him?
  8. Scattered through the novel are references to magic--Betty's fortune telling, Mike's magician--like appearance from the garbage can, and the narrator's sense that he is invisible as he sneaks around the motel. How does this change the mood of a book that is mainly realistic?
  9. Typically in a coming-of-age novel, the main character learns a lesson or changes in some fundamental way. What lessons, if any, does the narrator of The Sundog Season learn? What changes, if any, do we witness in him?
  10. There is a rich history of small-town stories in Canadian fiction, from Who Has Seen the Wind to A Complicated Kindness. But some critics argue that since Canada is now a largely urban country, its literature should reflect that reality. Does the hinterland setting of The Sundog Season still speak to contemporary readers? If so, how and why? If not, why not?
  11. The narrator develops unusual friendships with two eccentric older characters, Betty and Julius. What is the importance of these relationships to the 13-year-old narrator?
  12. How does the author establish Mike's character? What is his bond with the narrator based on?
  13. Coming-of-age tales often show young people in conflict with their parents, or alienated from them. That doesn't seem to be the case inThe Sundog Season. But is narrator's relationship with his mother and father entirely healthy? How does his rapport with them influence his actions and decisions in the novel, if at all?
  14. In the second last chapter, the narrator and his sister are drawn together, at least temporarily, by the death of Sgt. Martin. What is it that brings them close at this crisis point?
  15. Cigarettes figure prominently at several point in the book. What do they represent?
  16. The story is told from two perspectives. There is the vantage point of the unnamed 13-year-old, but also, perhaps more subtly, the sense that the narrator is looking back on these events as an adult. A which points did you sense the perspective of the grown man layered over the memories themselves? Does his memory seen entirely reliable? 
  17. Do the two boys, the narrator and Mike, seem likely to remain friends later in life? What do you imagine about the narrator's relationship with his sister, Katie, as they grow older?
  18. By the standards of contemporary fiction and movies, the two deaths in this book are not particularly grisly ones. Yet they are the accidental death of a child and the suicide of a troubled, charismatic, man. Do they seem tragic? Is it possible for these sorts of unsensationalized deaths to carry much emotional impact today?
  19. What role do the images of reflections play in the narrative?
  20. The end of the prologue seems to set the stage for a book propelled by hatred, but the book is hardly hate-filled. What ultimately is the role of hate in the story? What about guilt?

• Short Fiction