Reader's Guide

The Exact Same Moon : Fifty Acres and a Family
by Jeanne Marie Laskas

(Page 2 of 2)

About the Reader's Guide

In her acclaimed Fifty Acres and a Poodle, journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas recalled her heartwarming, sometimes madcap journey from city gal to country wife. The Exact Same Moon finds Jeanne Marie and her husband, Alex, with a breathtakingly beautiful farm, a menagerie of happy animals, and a new sense of wonder in their idyllic pocket of rural Pennsylvania. But it's time for another journey-one that will shape her family in challenging yet exhilarating ways.

The Exact Same Moon shares gentle vignettes of nurturing as Jeanne Marie's mother faces a paralyzing illness, followed by months of recuperation. As the extended, colorful family gathers to care for her, they all face the shifting roles brought about by aging and life's uncertainties. Jeanne Marie is also awakened to her own wish for parenthood, a subject she hesitates to bring up with Alex because he is fifteen years older and has adult children of his own. With candor and humor, and with a foster dog named Sparky in tow, she traces the circuitous route that brought her to the most precious of discoveries.

The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Jeanne Marie Laskas's The Exact Same Moon. We hope they will enrich your experience of this touching memoir.

Reader's Guide

1. The Exact Same Moon opens with Jeanne Marie and Alex fearful of being outsiders in a community that still seems foreign to them in some ways. Have they achieved a sense of belonging by the end of the book? What observations does Jeanne Marie make about the experience of all newcomers, including Anna?

2. What quirks and joys, such as rooting for Bentworth in the county fair's demolition derby or being on casual terms with the postmaster, make life in Scenery Hill unique? What benefits and downsides does the book present for rural versus city life? What are the defining attributes of your community?

3. In what ways does her mother's illness nonetheless serve as a healing backdrop for Jeanne Marie's narrative? What weaves these events into Jeanne Marie's journey to motherhood?

4. How might you cope with saying farewell to a family home, or with your parents' transition to a care center? How do Jeanne Marie and her siblings respond to the process of becoming parents to those who have parented them?

5. How does Jeanne Marie perceive each of her animals? Does life in the country-with hunters and the danger of dogs to ewes-shift her perception or enhance the intuition she's already forged? What is Sparky's role in shaping the book's narrative?

6. What is the family dynamic between Jeanne Marie and her siblings? What role does the next generation play, particularly her niece Alyson? What aspects of their matriarch do they mirror?

7. How do your levels of trust compare with Jeanne Marie's? Are there any foolproof ways to gauge the trustworthiness of strangers such as Mack from the airport or the road-crew worker? What determines how much caution is appropriate in life, in general?

8. What is your understanding of Jeanne Marie's vivid dreams? What emotions do they capture?

9. Compare the various characters presented in The Exact Same Moon, particularly George and Pat and the elderly neighbor who has had her share of grief. What protocols are at work in this community? Is it in any way a microcosm for the world at large?

10. One of the many inspiring aspects of Alex and Jeanne Marie's marriage is their attitude toward the here and now, combined with a reverence for the "signs" that inhabit their lives (such as sharing identical birthdays). What enables them to balance realism and seemingly far-fetched dreams?

11. Discuss the writing itself, including Jeanne Marie's creative depictions of sound and her decision to use primarily present tense. How would you characterize her voice and its spectrum of deadpan humor and poignancy?

12. How does the journey to China compare with the process of IVF as described in the book? What lessons about uncertainty and destiny can be derived from reading about these efforts to become parents?

13. What do the scenes with Anna, and a glimpse of the author as a mother, indicate about the nature of parenting? Where did the book's chapters ultimately take Alex and Jeanne Marie?

14. Discuss the book's title. What universal, enduring experiences are captured in this memoir?

15. In terms of tone and perspective, did you notice many distinctions between The Exact Same Moon and its prequel, Fifty Acres and a Poodle? What transformations do they each capture?

16. How would you describe your own happily-ever-after?

Excerpted from The Exact Same Moon by Jeanne Marie Laskas Copyright © 2003 by Jeanne Marie Laskas. Excerpted by permission of Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

JEANNE MARIE LASKAS is a columnist for The Washington Post Magazine, where her "Significant Others" essays appear weekly, and a contributing editor at Esquire. She is also an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing. When she's not working on her next book, she, Alex, and their two daughters tend the goats, sheep, horses, mules, and other animals at Sweetwater Farm in Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania.