QUESTIONS

1. What attracted Bounds to the community of Garrison, NY, so much that she decided to move there while her apartment was uninhabitable? What did she expect the community to be like when she first moved there?

2. What did she find there and how did Garrison and its inhabitants, once she got to know them, differ from her expectations?

3. Why is it significant that Guinan’s is an Irish pub? What makes Irish pubs so appealing?

4. Why did it take Bounds time to warm up to some of the characters at the pub? Why was she self-conscious and defensive toward some people?

5. How does Little Chapel on the River depict small town life? Are the descriptions realistic or is this a romanticized view?

6. How does she react to the disagreements in the Guinan family?

7. Why is Jim willing to tell her about family matters he does not discuss with his children?

8. When Jim questions Gwen about “her sister”, Gwen is nervous about telling him Kathryn is her partner. What does Gwen expect? What is his reaction?

9. What does Walter, the parsimonious neighbor, add to Gwen’s life?

10. What do we learn about the author’s life and her family?

11. How does the author merge her personal family memories with the events in Garrison which are the main focus of the memoirs?

12. What is the role of nostalgia in this portrait of small town life?

13. What is the importance of place in people’s lives?

14. The book’s subtitle is “a pub, a town and the search for what matters most.” What matters most to the inhabitants of Garrison? What matters most to Gwen?

15. What makes Garrison a community, as opposed to simply a place to live?

    
    

Questions compiled by Suzanne Fisher (fishers@uhls.lib.ny.us)