Dating Big Bird
by Laura Zigman
List Price: $22.95
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0385333404
Publisher: Dial
With the laugh-out-loud humor and heartfelt wisdom that made Animal
Husbandry a national bestseller, Laura Zigman's second novel introduces
Ellen Franck, a successful single career woman whose one desire--a child
of her own--throws her into the ever-growing ranks of the "reproductively
challenged."
Ellen has a life many people dream about--a glamorous fashion industry
job, an apartment in Greenwich Village, good friends--and yet Ellen feels
herself at sixes and sevens, filled with a vague longing for...what? She
can't say. Then the sight of her newborn niece, Nicole (a.k.a. "The Pickle"),
makes her realize exactly what she's been missing: a child. But there's
one problem. Malcolm, the man she loves, is too scarred by the long-ago
death of his young son to ever consider fatherhood again.
Looking down the barrel of the dark side of thirty-five, Ellen knows that
time is passing, and as it does, her desire to have a baby only increases--especially
when her sister Lynn announces she's pregnant with her second child. Now
Ellen must finally address the very real flaws in her relationship with
Malcolm and examine her doubts and fears about the only option that seems
to be available--single motherhood. And so begins nine months of reading,
Internet surfing, and nonstop Zigmanesque observations about morning sickness,
stretch marks, accelerated hair growth, digestion, amniocentesis (and
that's just the beginning). And Ellen...well, Ellen finally makes a clear-eyed
decision that will change her life.
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1.Why does Ellen take so long to come to a decision about single motherhood? What are her biggest concerns?
2. What are the most important reasons that Ellen and Amy want to have children? How much of it has to do with what they want, as opposed to what society tells them they should be?
3. Will Ellen's decision to raise a baby on her own make her a more committed mother because she is overcoming additional obstacles?
4. What does Malcolm's pain and loss after his son's death tell us about the emotional price of parenthood?
5. Why does Ellen put up with Malcolm's inability to be intimate with her for so long? What is she getting out of the relationship instead?
6. How do Ellen and Amy's views of parenthood compare to your own? Do you relate to them or not?
7. Ellen makes assumptions about Karen's ability to be a good mother, based on Karen's personality and work routine. What does this say about Ellen's perceptions of motherhood?
8. Should Ellen find other things to fulfill her while she's trying to decide about becoming a mother--or does her research fill some of that void?
9. How do you think Amy's solution will turn out? What, in the long run, would make her happier--a baby within an ambiguous marriage, or a baby by herself?
10. What is it about Ellen's relationship with "The Pickle" (her niece Nicole) that is so satisfying? Is it because she isn't a mother herself that she feels so much for The Pickle--or not?
11. How do Ellen's reflections on motherhood affect her relationship with her own parents?
12. What is your opinion of "Mammo"? Does it apply to you? People you know? Do you wish it did? Would you wear it as a necklace?
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