She's Come Undone Questions

1) How does Dolores' life parallel her mother's and how does she ultimately triumph and move beyond her tie to her mother's failures?

2) Discuss the significance of water in the novel - as a symbol of both Dolores' breaking points and eventual recovery.

3) Death, in many forms, frequently occurs in the novel. Whait is the impact of death on Dolores and is she ever able to move beyond the initial tragedy of her baby brother's death?

4) How is Dolores' sexuality used to reflect her voyage in society? Is her path in life guided by her dysfunctional relationships with men, beginning with her father, or are the men in her life simply potholes in her quest to search for her identity?

5) Dolores' earliest memory revolves around the day her family received their first television set. Discuss the prevalence of popular culture in the novel, both in the shaping of Dolores' identity and the world she lives in.

6) Dolores frequently encounters people in her life who mirror family members who have disappointed her over the years. What is the role of the family and how does Dolores ultimately compensate for her losses through her relationships with caring outsiders?

7) Discuss the signifcance of Dolores' mother's flying leg painting. Her mother is killed before she really gets a chance to fly--what facilitates Dolores' ability to finally accept her mother's failures and create her own wings to fly towards a better future?

8) Wally Lamb has described "good literature" as writing that explores the imperfections of the world and "kicks readers in their pants, shakes them out of their complacency about a world that needs fixing." Do yo agree or disagree with this definition? How does it apply to She's Come Undone?

9) Rate the book on a scale of 1-5