An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg: An Online Book Discussion

About the Book

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After escaping the last of a long string of abusive boyfriends, Jean Gilkyson and her ten-year-old daughter Griff have nowhere left to go. Nowhere except Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's estranged father-in-law, Einar, still blames her for the death of his son. Though Einar isn’t glad to see either of them, Griff falls in love with his sprawling ranch and quiet way of life, as she slowly gets to know his crippled old friend Mitch, the cats that lurk in the barn at milking time, and finally the grandfather she had lost for so many years. An emotionally charged story of hard-won friendship and reconciliation, An Unfinished Life shows a novelist of extraordinary talents in the fullness of his powers.

About the Author

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Mark Spragg is the author of Where Rivers Change Direction, a memoir that won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award, and The Fruit of Stone, a novel. Both were top-ten Book Sense selections and have been translated into seven languages. He lives in Cody, Wyoming.

Mark Spragg will be speaking at the Arizona Book Festival on April 1. Check the schedule for the day.

How has Griff been affected by witnessing Jean’s abuse at the hands of her boyfriends?

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Near the opening of the novel Griff thinks, “Everybody’s mother is good at something. Her mother’s good at finding the same man, no matter where she lives” [p. 8].

What does Griff’s diary tell us about her feelings for her mother?

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What is good about their relationship? Which scenes indicate that Jean is a good mother? What does Griff admire about Jean?

How important are routines in the lives of Mitch and Einar?

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How is their humanity revealed in their daily activities? Does the novel suggest that it is routine that keeps them alive? How does the arrival of Jean and Griff alter these routines, and who benefits most from the changes?

How does the mood and tone of the novel change when the setting switches to Wyoming?

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What is the effect of Wyoming life and landscape on Griff?

How accurate is the novel’s depiction of domestic violence?

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When Starla, the sheriff’s receptionist, offers Jean a pistol, what stereotype of battered women does she reveal she believes in? How does Jean respond? What acts of bravery does Jean commit to create a better life for herself and Griff?

Why is the bond Einar feels with Mitch so profound?

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As he massages Mitch’s shoulders, Einar “knows if he shuts his eyes he’d forget they weren’t the same man, that he wasn’t working the liniment into some scarred part of himself” [p. 21].

How do details like Mitch’s dreams and his antler carvings illuminate aspects of his character?

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How is Mitch’s personality a counterpoint to Einar’s, particularly in their dealings with Griff?

What does Jean’s return home reveal about her character?

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What do we learn of her relationship with Griffin? Why does she put her box of belongings back into the hole in the closet floor [p. 172]? What does it mean for her “to believe in chance as random as weather” [p. 172]?

The story proceeds at a quick pace, with some details about the characters’ pasts implied but not stated directly.

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For instance, how long ago was Mitch attacked by the bear? When did Einar start drinking heavily? What was Ella like, and how did she die? What other questions does the plot raise? Does it matter that these questions aren’t answered?

Which scenes and details best express the way Einar reacts to the realities of aging?

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How does he attempt to combat the aging of his body and for what reasons? Why has Spragg chosen an excerpt from Mark Strand’s poem “Not Dying” for the novel’s epigraph?

What characteristics did Einar value most in his son?

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In what ways does Griff remind him of Griffin? If Griffin’s life was “unfinished” [p. 43], as his father emphasized, does Griff represent a chance for its completion?

Describe the most admirable elements of Griff’s character.

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In which scenes does she seem indomitable, and in which scenes is she vulnerable and scared? In what way does Griff seem wiser than a typical ten-year-old, and how has she become that way?

How do power and control define Roy’s relationship with Jean?

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When is Roy most dangerous? If the novel can be said to have two dangerous antagonists, Roy and the bear, which—the human or the animal—is more threatening?

How does Jean’s guilt affect her life and relationships?

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How does Einar’s grief affect his life and relationships? What does the novel suggest about people’s need to hold on to their pain? How do Jean and Einar change over the course of the novel?

What are your thoughts on the novel’s structure and narration

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In what order is the story presented? From whose point(s) of view is the story told? With which character(s) does the reader become most intimately acquainted?

What is the significance of the bear in Mitch and Einar’s relationship?

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Why does Mitch want to set the bear free? Does the bear have a symbolic as well as literal presence in the novel? Why is the series of events involved in setting the bear free so important?

What did you think about the author's writing style?

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Discuss Mark Spragg’s writing style. Is there a relationship between his style and the emotional impact of the story?