As Good as Gone (Watson)

Discussion Questions
We'll add the publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for As Good as Gone...then take off on your own:

1. What kind of man is Calvin Sidey? In what way does he adhere to—and break with—the archetypal cowboy hero of classic Western novels and films?

2. Why does Calvin agree to return to Gladstone and care for his grandchildren? He himself doesn't understand why:

Hadn't he banished long ago any feelings of obligation to others? Did he say yes simply because of blood? Could he have said no to anyone but his son? Or is his solitary life less endurable than he believes?

What do you think? Does Cal come to realize why by the end of the novel?

3. Early in the book, Bill recalls a remark Beverly Lodge once made: "Men—once they have an excuse to go, they're liable to stay gone." While he doesn't think the remark applies to him, he considers other men he knows who delay going home at the end of the day by heading for drinks to the Elks Club or VFW. Does the observation about men have any truth to it (the novel, don't forget, takes place in the 1960s)? Have men changed?

4. Why did Calvin abandon his family? What does it say that he has been on the run for so many years? Even Beverly understands that he "is always ready to run, and it doesn’t take much to set him in motion.” How might Cal be ill-equipped to cope with the mid-20th century?

5. Calvin is an enigmatic character who has a powerful effect on those in Gladstone. What accounts for his reputation?

6. Cal says to his grandson, "Believe me when I say I've sunk a hell of a lot more fence posts than I've roped cattle." What does this comment suggest about the romantic myth of the old west?

7. As Good as Gone follows a mythic plotline: a stranger arrives in town to dispense justice and set things right. If you are familiar with other books or films in the Western genre—or especially with classical Greek mythology—how does this novel follow the mythical outline?

8. Enumerate the various troubles in the Sidey household, which Cal unwittingly walks into. Consider Will's problems with his friends, Anne's ex-boyfriend, and Bill's unfinished business with Lonnie Black Pipe.

9. Why is Marjorie so distrustful of Calvin?

10. Then there's Beverly Lodge: how does her rush to soften Cal help her discover something hidden within herself?

11. Talk about the novel's ending. How do the characters change, or grow, and what do they come to understand about themselves and the obligations of family?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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