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Reading
Group Guide Questions
1. Bari and Franki were raised together
in the same household by the same parents.
Discuss the personality differences
between them. Which girl is a mirror
of their father Jimmy and which is a
mirror of their mother?
2. Grandma Greta
passed down her posy kerchief to Bari
for luck and protection. Was the power
of the posies any different than the power
derived from the dusts and other articles
Bari received from Zuma? Discuss
examples where the posies and/or the articles
from Zuma were helpful to Bari’s
life or marriage.
3. It has been said that most women/men
see certain signs at the beginning of
a relationship that would indicate the
direction at which the relationship
will go. Discuss some of the early
signs that would have told Bari about
her relationship with Earl.
4. Is it possible
to live, sleep and eat with a person
on a daily basis and not have any idea
whatsoever that that person is abusing
drugs? Is it possible to be completely
oblivious to every sign? At what point
should the lights have gone on for Bari?
5. Earl’s father killed his mother
when he was a little boy. Earl
is haunted by his deceased mother’s
image and has become drug addicted as
a result of it. Should he have faced
his past and turned his father in? Would
this have helped his life? His marriage?
6. Bari
had a very supportive base of family
and friends. What could they have done
to help Bari get strong and take control
of her life? Could
they have helped her? If so, how? If
not, why not?
7. Bari’s career skyrocketed
from the very beginning of her employment
with Choler-Raines. She put her blood,
sweat and tears (as she put it) and
a whole lot of time into her job. If
she had put the same effort into her
marriage do you think it would have
made a difference?
8. At the family’s
reunion dinner at Christmastime when
hazel, Ricky, Bari and Franki were all
together for the first time in years,
Bari’s
physical appearance was frail and stressed.
With the small amount of knowledge that
Hazel had that perhaps something was
wrong n her daughter’s life, could
Hazel have taken a different approach
in confronting Bari? What could Ricky
have done even though he had no clue
as to what was happening until that
very night?
9. When Earl held Bari captive at their
home, could Bari have gotten away f
she wanted to? How should she have behaved?
What did you expect when the children
were singing “Ring around the
rosie, pocket full of posies…”?
What would you have done that night
if you were Bari?
10. Were you happy with the
ending of the story? What would you
have written differently? What would
you have happen in a sequel?
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Donna Hill
Brenda Jackson
Francis Ray