Discuss the novel’s depiction of mother figures by comparing and contrasting Sadie with James and Johnny’s mother. Examine the novel’s ideas about how both maternal abandonment and overprotectiveness can have consequences.

Analyze Johnny’s character. What are his strengths and flaws, and how do these traits shape his relationships with his friends and family?

How does James’s bond with Johnny both help and hinder each of them? How do their fraught family dynamics become both a source of mutual support and emotional damage?