Life After Yes (28 page)
Authors: Aidan Donnelley Rowley
- Life After Yes
begins with a dream (or nightmare) that comes back to Quinn throughout the book. What is the significance of that dream? Ultimately, what is it that Quinn is so afraid of? - Quinn (a.k.a. Prudence) struggles with her name from a young age and is called different things by different people: Sage calls her Quinn but Phelps, her first true love, teases her as Prudence. The law firm knows her as Quinn but her family calls her Prue. What do these two names represent for her?
- Do you think our society is overly concerned with the virtue (or vice) of prudence?
- Quinn seems like a typical lawyer when she's talking and reasoning with other peopleâconfident and rationalâbut her interior monologue is much more insecure. Do you think this is common, namely that our exterior selves are more polished than our interior selves?
- In the book, the word “blackberry” refers to both the technological gadget and the fruit. How do these different meanings come together to define Quinn?
- Do you know anyone who is a “Berry Baby?” Are you? Why do you think people feel the need to check their BlackBerrys at all times?
- Quinn's best friends, Kayla and Avery, are very different people and seem to represent the contradictory parts of Quinn herself. As Quinn changes, so do they. How do their lives mirror Quinn's?
- The loss of Quinn's father is prevalent throughout the book. How does Quinn deal with this loss? How does her father influence her decisions even after he is gone?
- Both Quinn and Sage have lost a family member, but they deal with their respective losses in very different ways. How have these losses impacted their relationship? How have these losses changed their families?
- Alcohol plays a conspicuous role throughout Quinn's story. Do you think that Quinnâand othersârely too much on alcohol to cope with existential unrest? Do you think
Life After Yes
paints an accurate portrait of the ubiquity of alcohol in modern culture, or do you think the portrait offered is exaggerated? - Do you agree that
Life After Yes
is not a fairy tale? - Do you agree that there is usually one nurturer in a relation ship?
- Quinn's mother says that growing up is not a fact, but a decision. Do you agree? When do you think childhood tradition ally expires? When one marries? When one's parent dies? Or does childhood expire over and over?
- Fishing is an important theme throughout Quinn's story. Discuss the significance of this particular theme to Quinn's character and to questions of life and love.
- Late in the novel, Quinn realizes that her parents' marriage wasn't quite as perfect as it seemed. How does this affect her feelings about Sage and her impending wedding?
- Quinn isn't exactly faithful to Sage and yet they seem to understand each other better after they both face infidelity. Why does this bring them closer?
- Do you agree with the theory that it is never too late to be come a good person?
- If you were Quinn, would you have chosen Sage or Phelps? Why? Do you think most women have a Sage and a Phelps in their life?
- As Quinn evolves, she comes to realize that we often don't find the best things in life when looking, but stumble upon them while living. Do you agree?
- Shortly before the end of the book, Quinn realizes that some times beginnings and ends “bleed into each other.” Why is this important for her? Do you agree that life is a series of overlapping beginnings and ends?
- Life After Yes
ends with a good deal of uncertainty. We do not know where exactly Quinn is headed professionally and personally. This is hardly the typical Hollywood ending, but it is also more real. As a reader, are you frustrated by the ending's murkiness or do you find it satisfying in that it reflects reality? - If there were a movie based on
Life After Yes,
whom would you choose to play the main characters?
AIDAN DONNELLEY ROWLEY
is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School. The middle of five sisters, she was born and raised in New York City where she currently lives with her husband and two young daughters. Aidan writes daily about life as a mother and writer on her blog Ivy League Insecurities (www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com).
Life After Yes
is her first novel.
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Praise
for
Life After Yes
“Rowley skillfully dissects the myth of having it all in this unputdownable, late coming-of-age story set in rarefied Manhattan. Her flawed and complex characters will stick with you long after
Life After Yes
's final pages since they are all too human as they struggle with love and loss.”
âJulie Buxbaum, author of
After You
“
Life After Yes
is a hilarious and heartbreaking story that explores the halfway-there terrain between accepting the proposal and saying âI do.' A tale of love, grief, confusion, and the quest for certainty, this brave debut explores the choices we make, and the ones we must forgo to keep moving.”
âJ. Courtney Sullivan, author of
Commencement
“A must-read modern love story for any woman wondering which man, and which direction, is the right one.”
âTatiana Boncompagni author of
Hedge Fund Wives
“A moving look at post 9/11 life, love, and loss. Aidan Donnelley Rowley writes with a deft hand. A great new talent.”
âMolly Jong-Fast, author of
Normal Girl
“Aidan Donnelley Rowley paints a tender portrait of life post 9/11 Manhattan through the eyes of a confused, grieving yuppie who should be happy and doesn't know why she's not. Quinn O'Malley's search for meaning is touching and universal.”
âKristina Riggle, author of
Real Life & Liars
“A resounding âyes!' to
Life After Yes
âa novel that explores, with charm and humor, life after loss. Readers will root for its endearing narrator, Quinn O'Malley, as she confronts the road not taken and navigates the conflicting and complicated intersections of head and heart.”
âMameve Medwed, author of
Of Men and Their Mothers
L
IFE
A
FTER
Y
ES
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reproduce song lyrics:
“Dear Prudence” copyright © 1968 by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
LIFE AFTER YES
. Copyright © 2010 by Aidan Donnelley Rowley. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
F
IRST
A
VON PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED
2010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rowley, Aidan Donnelley.
Life after yes / Aidan Donnelley Rowley.
p. cm.â(1st Avon pbk. ed.)
ISBN 978-0-06-189447-3 (pbk.)
1. Young womenâFiction. 2. Women lawyersâFiction. 3. YuppiesâNew York (State)âNew YorkâFiction. 4. Life change eventsâFiction. 5. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001âInfluenceâFiction. 6. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)âFiction. I. Title.
PS3618.O884L54 2010
813'.6âdc22
2009044957
EPub Edition © May 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-199473-9
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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