Voorheesville Public Library
Restless

QUESTIONS

  1. As you read this book, keep a list of all of the examples of falsehood, betrayal and deception you can find.

  2. Why is Ruth a dissatisfied and angry person?

  3. Why does Ruth resent her mother?

  4. Why did Sally/Eva keep the story of her past life secret for so long? What prompts her to finally tell Ruth her story?

  5. Conversely, why does Ruth know so little about her mother? What secrets does Ruth keep from her own son?

  6. As Sally/Eva's story unfolds, what is your reaction to it? Do you think it's the truth?

  7. When does Ruth start to take her mother's worries seriously?

  8. What motivates the young Eva to put her life in danger? Where does she reveal her motivations in her autobiography?

  9. Eva compares Romer's transformation of her to Sally to the Pygmalion story. What other examples of transformation are there in the novel?

  10. Eva took seriously Romer's rule about not trusting anyone. Why does Ruth mistrust people?

  11. Why does Ruth feel obligated to let Ludger stay in her house?

  12. Does reading Eva's memoir affect the way Ruth reacts to people, for example to Hamid and Detective Constable Frobisher?

  13. What do Eva and Ruth learn about trust?

  14. What are the challenges of writing a novel that contains two first-person narratives? Is Boyd successful in integrating the two? Why do you think he writes the two storylines, instead of just having Eva tell her story?

The following questions are from a printed reading guide:

  1. At the end of her wilderness exercise outside Lyne, Eva "felt she had changed in some small but profound way" (p. 51). What brings about this transformation and what effects of this change are visible in her personal and professional life?

  2. Ruth teaches English using a textbook called Life with the Ambersons. The fictional family's experiences take a dark turn when their dog runs away: "The fear of poisoning entered the cloistered world of Darlington Crescent" (p. 181). How do the Ambersons' textbook adventures parallel the Gilmartins' experiences?

  3. Why does Sallly dislike Timothy Thoms's historical reading of "The Story of Eva Delectorskaya"? Does Thoms's interpretation render Eva's work "insignificant and petty" (p. 321), as Sally says ruefully?

  4. How does the title reflect the themes of the novel?

Questions compiled by Suzanne Fisher (fishers@uhls.lib.ny.us)
January 9, 2007

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