Raising Wrecker Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Foster Care Statistics in the U.S. and our BookBrowse Review of Raising Wrecker.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

These discussion questions are designed to enhance your group's conversation about Wrecker, a heartfelt novel about a group of misfits who form an unusual family amid the trees and valleys of California's Lost Coast.


About this book
Wrecker is three years old and alone in the world. His mother, Lisa Fay, has high hopes for her son, but the temptations of San Francisco in the 1960s land her in prison. Lisa Fay's sister, Meg, gets custody of Wrecker, but a botched root canal has left Meg brain damaged and fully dependent on her devoted husband, Len. It falls to Len to adopt Wrecker, a skittish but fearless child, but Len quickly realizes that he can't manage both Meg and Wrecker at the same time.

Len's neighbors, the tiny commune at Bow Farm, agree to take Wrecker in. Melody, the youngest, bonds with Wrecker instantly and dreads the day she might lose him to his birth mother. Ruth, the eldest, shares an impish sense of humor with the unruly boy. Johnny Appleseed teaches Wrecker respect for nature and suspicion of the law. And Willow, who walked away from her own family, finds herself fighting two overwhelming urges: her maternal feelings for Wrecker and her growing attraction to Len. As two milestones approach - Wrecker's eighteenth birthday and the end of Lisa Fay's prison sentence - this slapdash family quickly bonds around Wrecker's mysterious history, and the hopeful possibilities of his future.


For discussion

1. Compare the three settings of Wrecker: hippie San Francisco, the women's prison at Chino, and the secluded Mattole Valley. How does each of these settings look and feel in the novel? What does Lisa Fay miss most about San Francisco? Why does the Mattole Valley feel like home to Melody?
2. Discuss the circumstances of Meg's illness. What was Meg like before she got sick? What toll does Meg's condition take upon her marriage, and how does Len express his devotion and his doubts?
3. What are Len's first impressions of three-year-old Wrecker? What reservations does Len have about taking Wrecker in? Are his worst fears justified? Why or why not?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Bloomsbury USA. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.