Hopeless

Examine the character of Karen Davis. What she does is illegal and yet the right thing to do. Review her explanation to Sky in Chapter 52. Is doing the wrong thing sometimes the right thing?

The book uses frank depictions of teenage love and the power of sheer physical attraction. What does the novel argue is the relationship between teenage love and grown-up love? How does the word “live,” which Holder and Sky coin, offer the novel’s insight into the power of first love?

The novel uses two suicides as emotional tipping points. Compare and contrast the deaths of Les Holder and John Davis, and explore their motivations.

Research the impact of sexual abuse at the hands of a parent. Using the italicized interludes, define the character of Hope as survivor and the impact such treatment by a loving parent has on her as a teenager 13 years later.

Despite a plot that includes predatory child abuse, rape, incest, and two suicides, no one in the novel seeks professional counseling. The novel suggests that the love between Holder and Sky ensures Sky’s recovery from her trauma. Test the validity of such an argument. Is love all that is necessary to recover?

Six and Brecklin are strong secondary characters. Given the novel’s argument about handling all the problems life presents as a way to become a better, stronger person, write a character study of either Six or Brecklin.

The relationship that develops between Sky and Holder is suggested by the novel’s use of stars. Stars factor into Sky’s emotional evolution as she reclaims her past and her identity. Contrasting the stars in her bedroom as a child with the stars under which she and Holder lie, define how the novel uses stars as a symbol of Sky’s emotional evolution.

The love that Holder and Sky discover seems almost unbelievable. Using the definition that Sky offers—their shared past bits of their lives have actually fused to create a kind of supra-real love—how does the novel define that feeling? Is it a love available to everyone?