Sea Wife (Gaige) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for SEA WIFE … then take off on your own:

1. What is wrong with this marriage? What pulls Juliet and Michael together … and what drives them apart?

2. Why does Michael decide to embark on the sailing adventure? What does he hope the sea voyage will accomplish, for himself, for Juliet, and for their marriage?

3. The novel's first sentence is a question posed by Juliet: "Did my mistake begin with the boat? Or my marriage itself?" What do you think—the boat, the marriage … or something else entirely?

4. Juliet is a complex woman: how would you describe her? Talk about the childhood trauma that continues to haunt her? What role does it play in her marriage, in her overall life?

5. Talk about Michael's political grievances. How do they affect the marriage?

6. What insights does Juliet gain by reading through Michael's log?

7. Did you revel, along with the Partlows, in the early part of the journey, once the the family got its sea legs? What might you have found particularly enchanting?

7. Once the weather and the Partlows' lack of experience catches up with them, did you wonder what they were doing on a 44-foot boat—with their little children—to begin with?

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

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