Falling Out of Time (13 page)

2. On
this page
, Walking Man’s wife asks him: “Will I ever again / see you / as you are, / rather than as / he is not?” How is the relationship between husband and wife changed by the loss of a child? How does it affect specific couples in the novel—the Town Chronicler and his wife, the Midwife and the Cobbler?

3. The Town Chronicler is initially introduced as a sort of omnipresent force who objectively catalogs the events of the town from a distance. Yet as the book progresses, his own melancholia is revealed. What initiates this change? What does this suggest about the presentation of self in professional versus private spheres?

4. Walking Man begins his journey by circling his own home—in hopes of getting his wife to join him—and gradually widens his path to cover greater swaths of the town. Why do you think the author chose to make his path circular rather than linear?

5. On
this page
, the Duke calls himself “an impostor of sorts, a sham / pretending to be an everyman.” Over the course of the narrative, how does the Duke’s admission of loss bring him closer to the townspeople? Does the shared experience of loss make him an “everyman”?

6. Explore the relationship between the Duke and the Town Chronicler. What did you make of the edict from the Duke? Did you believe that the Duke ordered the Town Chronicler not to mention his loss, or do you think that the Town Chronicler’s reticence developed as a coping mechanism?

7. The Centaur initially challenges the authority of the Town Chronicler, taunting him for his government role, but on
this page
, he describes him as a “friend.” How does this tension eventually lead to mutual respect? How does it help to unite the townspeople?

8. At the beginning of the narrative, the Town Chronicler observes that the mute net-mender has broken her nine-year silence and that her voice is “heavenly.” How does this description contrast with her physical description? When the Duke refers to her as “Lady of the Nets” on
this page
, is it done ironically or as a sign of respect?

9. Why do you think the Midwife stutters throughout? What leads her husband to think that “her words are / hardly broken / anymore!” on
this page
?

10.
Falling Out of Time
is a unique blend of prose, poetry, and drama. Why do you think the author chose to structure the narrative in such a way?

11. In the first section of the book, the dialogue moves from character to character, but in
Part II
, the townspeople’s voices are often considered collectively as “Walkers.” What does this say about the shared experience of grief? How does the similarity of their experiences bring a leveling effect to their society?

12. On
this page
, several characters struggle to remember who they are. What does this say about the shift in identity after the death of a child? How does memory interfere with their ability to redefine themselves?

13. Several characters express regrets about how they interacted with their children, or about how time was spent with a child. Whose admissions had the greatest impact on you?

14. Why do you think the author chose to represent the writer character as a Centaur? How does the Centaur’s struggle to write reflect the mourner’s communal struggle to communicate?

15. On
this page
, the Walkers state that “poetry / is the language / of my grief.” Do you agree? How is this reflected in the text?

16. On
this page
, the Centaur expresses his struggle to articulate death: “Death will deathify, / or is it deathened? Deatherized? / Deathered?” What does the Centaur’s “little game” say about the limitations—or flexibility—of language? How does the playful transformation of the word “death” limit or enhance its power for the speaker?

17. What does the appearance of the boy on
this page
signify? How do the townspeople react to hearing his voice? Explore the notion that “there / is breath / inside the pain.”

A Grief Observed
by C. S. Lewis

The Child in Time
by Ian McEwan

Mortality
by Christopher Hitchens

The Still Point of the Turning World
by Emily Rapp

The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion