Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for The Entire Sky by Joe Wilkins

1. Each of the three main characters—Justin, Rene, and Lianne—have, in some ways, run away. What are they running from? What personal, social, economic, and other forces are pushing on each of them? Is running away sometimes a reasonable answer? When? And why? What does it accomplish for each of these characters?
2. In what ways does the novel's structure—moving back and forth in time between April 1994 and Before—influence the story and your perceptions of the characters? Must we know and understand the past to move forward? Or are there times we ought to forget? Where do you see remembering and forgetting in the novel?
3. Poverty, abandonment, abuse—Justin has had to deal with far more than any young person ever should have to deal with, yet he remains, for the most part, decent to others and even happy and hopeful. What does he draw on to keep going, even in the face of so much horror? What allows him to be so resilient?
4. In many ways, Rene is an admirable man. Yet internally he feels intense regret and shame. Why? What personal and cultural struggles is he grappling with? And how does Justin's presence bring a force to bear on those struggles?
5. More is expected of Lianne than her brothers, Keith and Dennis. Why? Where in the novel does Lianne throw off expectation? What does she choose for herself?
6. How does the myth of the cowboy affect the entire community of Delphia? What other myths, for good and ill, are working on each of the characters? Where are the characters able to step outside the usual mythologies?
7. Discuss the role of family in The Entire Sky. Where do families work and not work? What makes a family? Did you find any similarities to your own family?
8. In an early review, the novelist Sharma Shields wrote: "In these pages a different potential for manhood is turned over and examined, one that allows for gentleness, healing, acceptance, grace." How does the novel interrogate masculinity? How does it explore gender and sexuality? Does it come to any conclusions?
9. What is the role of music in The Entire Sky? Do you find music playing a similar role in your life?
10. Discuss the final chapters. What does this ending have to say about each of the characters? What does it have to say about remembering, forgetting, tradition, family, gender, and resilience?

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