Have you ever reread your own writing after a break and learned new things in the process? Did you enjoy the experience?
2. Many readers can relate to the often difficult and confusing time after graduation when one is a young adult struggling to make their way in their twenties. Did you recognize yourself in Hollis or his friends?
3. What role does Hollis’s imaginary subtext play in the novel?
4. What is the significance of the title?
5. Grossman tells us that pop culture is important to the novel. Where do you see this represented?
6. In the foreword, Hollis is compared to many other “alienated … outwardly ineffectual” characters that have come before him such as Holden Caulfield and Stephen Dedalus. Which characters do you see in Hollis?
7. What does Xanthe bring to the story as a character? How does she compare and contrast with Eileen?
8. Hollis tells his friends that he wishes it could be night all the time. What does night signify for Hollis?
