Whale Season

WHALE SEASON RGG ABOUT THIS GUIDE In this wacky, laugh-out-loud comedy with a dark side, a serial killer who believes he is Jesus arrives in the small town of Whale Harbor, Florida, on Christmas Eve. In rapid succession, the down-but-not-out gambler Leon bets it all on the American Dream (a giant, brand-spanking-new recreational vehicle, of course), strip-club owner Dagmar gets her blues-playing Buddhist father Jimmy Ray to admit his paternity, and a drunk and celebratory Leon accidentally sets his home ablaze, leading everyone to believe he's dead. Add in a mayor who dies his hair with Jell-O, a sheriff whose mom still buys his underwear, and a psychopath in a loincloth, and you have the perfect recipe for murder and mayhemFlorida-style. This guide is designed to help you direct your reading group's discussion of N.M. Kelby's delightfully screwball novelWhale Season. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1) The book offers a veritable panoply of vibrant, strange, and original characters. Who is your favorite character, and why? 2) Many fantastic and outrageous events occur inWhale Season. Do you feel the story is more of a farce or an allegory? Are there any myths, legends, or tales the book brings to mind? 3) How did you feel about Leon when he was first introduced? Did you find his character sympathetic? Did your feelings about him change as the story progressed? Why or why not? 4) Doctor/Jesus is often referred to as having "bible eyes." What do you think this phrase means? 5) Why do you think Jimmy Ray and Dagmar had never discussed the possibility that they were related before Doctor/Jesus came to town? 6) "Everybody's got to have a moral code," Leon asserts (page 61). This seems to be true for many of Whale Harbor's residents. As a used RV salesman, Leon's code of honor is "ignorance is bliss." Contrast the morals of Jimmy Ray, Leon, Trot, Dagmar, and Doctor/Jesus. Who seems best served by their personal world view? 7) "Florida is heaven's waiting room." (page 41) "Jesus is everywhere in Florida. It's as if it's his winter headquarters." (page 8) Does the author have a love/hate relationship with the state of Florida? Could this book have taken place anywhere else and retained the same feeling? 8) What does the lack of whales in Whale Harbor symbolize to you? Do you believe their appearance at the novel's end is real? 9) "You stopped to pick me up because you want to believe in miracles; that's not such a bad thing," Doctor/Jesus says to Dagmar (page 70). It seems that everyone in Whale Harbor is more than willing to accept the presence of a man who thinks he is Jesus at Christmaseven a Jesus that kind-of gives them the creeps. Why do you think that is? 10) Religion and belief play a huge role in the novel. Do you think religionboth as a concept and a practiceis treated with respect or disrespect here? 11) Dagmar inherited the Dream Caf? from her uncle. She says she doesn't have the stomach for the business and yet turned the caf? into a profitable enterprise that she hopes to franchise. How do you feel about Dagmar and what she's done with her life? Would you invite her to join your book club? Would you be her friend? 12) "It's the Hallmark card of death, don't you think? Killed by the American Dreamhow perfect a death is that for a Buddhist?" Doctor/Jesus asks Jimmy Ray (page 276). How appropriate a symbol of the American Dream do you find the giant RV to be? Dagmar says it's "not my dream, but somebody's" (page 69). Do you thinkKelby, N. M. is the author of 'Whale Season', published 2006 under ISBN 9780307336781 and ISBN 0307336786.