When the Messenger Is Hot
Stories
by Elizabeth Crane
List Price: $12.95
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0316608467
Publisher: Back Bay Books
In tales everywhere hailed for their disarming humor and keen perception, Elizabeth Crane gleefully explores the absurdities and possibilities of modern urban life. The women in When the Messenger Is Hot are fierce and kind, damaged and optimistic. They are jilted lovers, absent daughters, Twelve-Steppers, and smart-asses. They experience love and loss in a way that is both uniquely theirs and universal.
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1. Why do you think the author chose to open the collection with "The Archetype's Girlfriend"? Which of the character traits described in the story apply to you? Your friends?
2. What does "Something Shiny" say about identity? How easily can others "figure us out"? Do you think, like Apple Fowler, there is someone who might be able to live your life better than you?
3. How do the fantastical elements in "Privacy and Coffee," "Something Shiny," "Return from the Depot!" and "The Daves" help illustrate the characters' emotional lives? How do you think the stories might have played out in reality?
4. Why does the narrator in "Privacy and Coffee" become a recluse? Is it possible to completely cut oneself off from the world? Where would you set up camp if you could pick any place in the world? How long do you think you'd be happy there?
5. Why do you think the author chose to write "You Take Naps" and "When the Messenger is Hot" in the second person? How does this approach affect your understanding of the stories?
6. What do you think Alice is trying to express through her poem at the end of "An Intervention"? Is her poem good or bad? Does it make a difference either way? How might the story be different without it?
7. Which character in the collection changes the most by the end of her story? Which character changes the least? Which character's decisions do you most agree with? Disagree with?
8. The concept of "denial" has left the therapist's office and entered mainstream conversation. Which stories in this collection deal with denial? Does the author seem wholeheartedly to condemn or endorse it?
9. Why do you think the author included so many footnotes in "The Super Fantastic New Zealand Triangle"? If you could footnote your life, what would need the most explaining?
10. In "Christina" is the ghost baby real or just a figment of the narrator's imagination? What does Christina represent?
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"Hilariously off-kilter stories. . . . Utterly refreshing."
—John Freeman, San Francisco Chronicle
"A sparkling collection of stories about women looking for love. . . . Crane's voice is sharp and smart and wholly sympathetic."
—Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly
"So delightful. The women in Crane's stories may be a little off-kilter (what with their rehab and their hopeless love affairs), but they're clever, original, and kind of silly about it all. Never self-indulgent or whiny. (Imagine!)""
—DailyCandy.com
"Though Crane's stories deal with serious issues - love, dishonesty, betrayal, grief, drinking, sadness-her tone displays polish, humor, and a delectable lightness. . . . The opening tale can only be described as a showstopper."
—Deirdre Donahue, USA Today
"Often hilarious. . . . Crane's heroines have been around the block a few times but still have tread on their tires and an off-key song in their hearts. . . . I haven't seen women quite like them anywhere else."
—Carol Anshaw, Chicago Tribune
