The Last Road Home (30 page)

1.
When and how do Junebug and Fancy become aware that their feelings for each other are more than friendship? Do you think their elders—Roy, Clemmy, and Junebug's grandmother—realize this before Junebug and Fancy do?

2.
In what ways did Junebug being an orphan, then a soldier in Vietnam, lead him to identify more with African American sharecroppers and the soldiers he served with than the privileged whites living in his community? Did his economic status and service in an unpopular war do more to classify him than race in a part of the United States where race determines everything? Has it done more to determine whom he feels closest to?

3.
What were the two or three most pivotal events in Junebug's life and how did he change as a result of those events? If his grandmother had lived, how might that have changed his relationship with Fancy?

4.
How does the violence that Junebug experienced as a young man influence his seemingly natural immersion in combat? How are they different?

5.
What are the themes in the book?

6.
Why does Junebug so intensely dislike Mr. Wilson? Why does Fancy? Is it possible he's not quite as bad a man as they imagine?

7.
How does the author's depiction of life as a soldier in Vietnam differ from other/similar sources on the subject?

8.
What are the comparisons and/or contrasts of Fancy's female role models in the novel, i.e., Fancy to her mother, to Junebug's grandmother, and even to the woman she travels with to Paris?

9.
Were you happy with the ending of the book? How did you envision the future for Junebug and Fancy?