An Atomic Romance (24 page)
Questions for Discussion
Why are Julia and Reed attracted to each other? What accounts for their “romance”? Do you sympathize with Julia or Reed in the breakup? Do you think Reed is being reasonable?
Consider the role of science in the novel and in the romance. Why are Reed and Julia so interested in such uncommon topics as quarks and the genome project and black holes? What questions ultimately lie beneath Reed and Julia’s flirtation with quantum theory and string theory?
Why does Reed keep working at such a dangerous job? Can you explain his loyalty? How does his attitude toward his work evolve? How serious are the dangers of radioactive contamination? How does he deal—or not deal—with his potentially lethal exposures to plutonium? How serious is the problem of nuclear waste for the world?
Reed dreams about a woman killing herself in the wildlife refuge, a “private screening of a horror film” (10) in his mind. How do you interpret the meaning of this dream, and why is Reed haunted by it? How does Reed’s dream connect to all the other dreaming in the novel? Consider also the epigraph, and Reed’s favorite poem, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” a poem that arose from a dream. Why do you think there are so many dreams in this novel?
The novel begins as if Reed is watching a movie when he rides into the wildlife refuge. How does this point of view—and the passive way we watch movies—arise from Reed’s character and situation? Can you find other references in the novel to the ways in which movies influence our way of seeing?
There are numerous insects in this book, including the oversized praying mantis. Why are these insects flying around in this story? Look for other clusters of images, such as birds, clouds, colors, and discuss why they might be significant.
How does Reed feel about his mother? What is her role in our understanding of the atomic legacy passed down to Reed? Why does she like to pretend?
Reed has a special fascination with images from the Hubble telescope. Trace the sequence of Reed’s sessions at the computer with his astronomical pictures. Why does he move from the stars to the planets? What are the transuranics?
Why does Reed think his buddy Burl is wise or even “holy”? What does Burl mean by serving as Reed’s “Prayer Warrior”?
Julia is a person who’s out for a second chance, a mother who starts a career after her daughters are grown. How realistic are her ambitions? Does Julia know herself? Can Reed share and support her ambitions?
What is the role of the mysterious Celtic Warrior Reed encounters in the wildlife refuge?
After Julia leaves for Chicago, Reed finds himself in a series of situations that carry him along until he can make a decision. What do these scenes—the ride with Burl into the country, the farewell trip to the wildlife refuge, the meeting with his Internet pen pal, and the church pageant with Burl—contribute to Reed’s state of mind and the progress of his romance with Julia?
Does the novel have a happy ending?
BOBBIE ANN MASON is the author of
In Country, Clear Springs,
and
Shiloh & Other Stories.
She is the winner of the PEN/ Hemingway Award, two Southern Book awards, and numerous other prizes, including the O. Henry and the Pushcart. She was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. She is writer-in-residence at the University of Kentucky.
Also by Bobbie Ann Mason
FICTION
Shiloh & Other Stories
In Country
Spence
+
Lila
Love Life
Feather Crowns
Midnight Magic
Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail
Nancy Culpepper
NONFICTION
Nabokov’s Garden
The Girl Sleuth
Clear Springs
Elvis Presley
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
2006 Random House Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Bobbie Ann Mason
Reading group guide copyright © 2006 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
READER’S CIRCLE and colophon are trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Mason, Bobbie Ann.
An atomic romance: a novel / Bobbie Ann Mason.
p. cm.
1. Nuclear fuel plants—Environmental aspects—Fiction.
2. Plutonium—Environmental aspects—Fiction. 3. Nuclear fuel
plants—Employees—Fiction. 4. Radioactive wastes—Fiction.
5. Women biologists—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.A7877A88 2005
813’.54—dc22 2004061458
eISBN: 978-0-307-43063-2
v3.0