Little Beauties A Novel

Reading Group Discussion GuideLittle Beauties: A NovelBy Kim AddonizioDISCUSSION QUESTIONS"My mother made me understand that everything was subordinate to my beauty." What role does Diana McBride's past life as the star of child beauty pageants play in her current predicament as an obsessive-compulsive woman with low self-esteem?The friendships that arise between Diana, Jamie, and Anthony seem unconventional in many respects. Do these connections seem dependent primarily on random coincidence, or can they be traced in some larger sense to each character's individual destiny?Over the course ofLittle Beauties, how does the theme of mothering get developed and expanded upon in the relationships between Diana and Gloria, Jamie and Mary, Jamie and Stella, Diana and Jamie, and Diana and Stella?"I am definitely not keeping the baby." How does Jamie Ramirez reconcile her hopes and dreams as a seventeen-year-old girl with the reality of her pregnancy and unborn child? What do you think explains her sudden change of heart with respect to keeping Stella?How do Diana's "rules" and "homework" serve to frame her obsessive-compulsive disorder? What role do these guidelines play in the larger structure of the novel?"It's all about loss, this place. It's all about pain, and maybe you don't, after all, want to feel that." How would you describe Stella's awareness of the world around her, and how does it compare to her perception of the world when she is still unborn?Both Diana and Jamie know an absence of men in their lives -- in Diana's case, she never knew her father, and her husband has just left her; for Jamie, her own father is brain-damaged, and the father of her unborn child has no interest in raising their daughter. To what extent does the absence of male relationships in their lives make Diana and Jamie more emotionally vulnerable than their peers? In what ways does this absence serve to make them more self-reliant?Diana opens up to Anthony about her fears of contamination. Discuss why this is significant. What does her revelation suggest about the possibility of their having a meaningful relationship?When Jamie takes off for New York, Diana must rise to the occasion to save Stella's life. "There's no time to wash properly. No time to get off the contamination from Jamie and Stella and that filthy diaper." What are some of the other ways that having Stella and Jamie in her home thrust Diana out of her comfort zone and into a sphere where she can temporarily overcome her obsessive-compulsive disorder?How did you interpret the end ofLittle Beauties? What do you think is in store for Diana, Jamie, and Stella?ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUBBefore your group meets to discussLittle Beauties, ask members to visit http://www.poemhunter.com/kim-addonizio/poet-16976/ to read one of Kim Addonizio's poems.Do you check to make sure your oven is turned off more than once before you leave the house? Worry inordinately about catching germs? With your book club, discuss some of the "rules" Diana McBride makes inLittle Beautiesas a means of combating her fears of contamination. To learn more about obsessive-compulsive disorder and its symptoms, visit http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm .Visit http://www.ci.long-beach.ca.us/ to get a clearer sense of beautiful Long Beach, the community inLittle Beautieswhere Diana, Jamie, and Stella live.Addonizio, Kim is the author of 'Little Beauties A Novel', published 2005 under ISBN 9780743271820 and ISBN 0743271823.