The Slip Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Widespread Appeal of Boxing and our BookBrowse Review of The Slip.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Unlike many places in America, Terry Tucker's Boxing Gym isn't segregated along lines of race and class, geography and gender. At the gym, immigrants from Mexico and the Caribbean work out alongside born-and-bred Austinites, "a jumble of humanity sweating it out as one." How does the gym's varied clientele contribute to its success? What tensions arise from the gym's diversity?
2. Throughout The Slip, David Dalice makes choices that could, at best, be called ethically questionable, from boasting to his teenage underlings about his alleged sexual experiences to more consequential actions later. Why do you think David behaves as he does? Were you sympathetic to David, and how did your sympathies evolve over the course of the story?
3. How does Nathaniel's understanding of race—and particularly the meaning of Blackness—contribute to his actions? Where do you sense this understanding comes from?

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