Keturah and Lord Death

Discussion Guide

1.In the front pages, the author quotes from Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Chariot,” which personifies death. What are some other poems, books, paintings, movies, or other media that have attempted to represent death in some way? How do you think Leavitt’s death character conforms to or departs from these other interpretations?

2.Did the prologue impact your reading of the book? If so, in what way?

3.Keturah, the reader might notice, is told in layers of story: the story Keturah is telling that begins in the prologue and ends in the coda, the smaller stories she tells Lord Death that keep her alive day after day, the stories she told around the fire that come to life in the book, even the story the author is telling. I was asking questions about the nature of story. More specifically, how does death play a part in the story of a life? Is it the true ending of all stories? Do we construct stories to understand death? Or do we model stories, with beginnings, middles and ends, because life has a beginning, middle and end? Is eternity a story we have told ourselves? Or are stories the business of eternity?

4.Keturah tells a child that beauty is a curse (p. 32). Do you think that beauty really is a curse for Keturah in the book? Why or why not? Based on your own experience, would you say that Keturah’s statement is true?

5.On page 45, Grandmother tells Keturah, “When death came for my daughter, life gave me you to comfort my heart. But hear me, child. People don’t like to hear death’s name. If you are in polite company, he is not spoken of.” Do you think there is any truth in this statement? Why or why not?

6.The author dedicated the book to her girlfriends, and one of the more important threads in the book is the relationship between Keturah and Gretta and Beatrice. The three girls are very different, and yet they are close friends. What do you think is the link that draws them together? How can friends be so different and still care for each other? How have girlfriends enriched your life?

7.Soor Lily makes a spell to help Keturah find her one true love. Do you feel there is such a thing as one true love? If not, why? If so, how do people find it without a charmed eyeball? Do you think your answer to this question could influence your romantic relationships?

8.Goody’s husband bids Keturah to come no more to his house, knowing she sees death coming. If you could discover the time and means of your death, would you want to know? Why or why not?

9.John Temsland says to Keturah, “You see for yourself how difficult it can be to be accepted into a circle of people who consider you to be different” (p. 114). Why do you think that acceptance can be so difficult? Have you experienced this difficulty yourself?

10.When Keturah asks Lord Death what death feels like, she tells him, “It hurts—I know only that.” In response, he says, “It is life that hurts you, not death” (p. 129). What does this mean to you?

11.In chapter nine, Keturah finds her grandmother collapsed and ill. After she has revived a little, her grandmother says, “I am dying.” Keturah responds, “No,” to which her grandmother says, “Will you let me die alone?” (p. 133). Why does her grandmother say this?

12.Grandmother observes that “youth is so carefree and innocent” (p. 147). Do you agree? Why or why not?

13.In chapter twelve, Keturah says, “I had made friends with death” (p. 168). What do you think she means? How does making friends with death affect Keturah’s relationships with the living? Do you know anyone who has made friends with death through a near-death experience? Are there other ways to make friends with death? Should we make friends with death?

14.Keturah gives Tailor some counsel regarding Gretta. She says, “Perhaps if you will humor her in the small things, you will hold sway in the bigger things” (p. 172). What do you think she means by this? Do you feel she gives Tailor good advice? How could this apply to other relationships in the story?

15.How do you feel about the ending? Were you surprised? If not, what clues were given to make the ending seem inevitable? Was it, as Keturah asks Naomi, “the ending that must be” (p. 212)? If you were telling the story, would you change the ending? In what ways?