Pears on a Willow Tree

With a synopsis, excerpts, author's notes, reviews and a discussion guide that is also found in the back of the book...

Study Guide Questions....just be sure you can answer these questions by the end of the novel...

1. Why did Rose disapprove of TV dinners?
2. What did baking the cake without the oven turned on symbolize to Helen’s sisters?
3. Why were Ginger, Amy and Cal late when traveling to Detroit to visit Rose before she died?
4. What finally happened to Rose's blue rosary beads?
5. Why was Amy asked to be Theresa's flower girl?
6. What was ironic about Ginger thinking her kids wouldn't like attending Mass?
7. What did Ginger dislike about AA meetings (list at least three things)?
8. Who else was at the Detroit AA meeting? Why was that a problem for Ginger?
9. What disturbing scene did Ginger witness at the bar after she fled the AA meeting?
10. Was the pony Amy received the answer to her prayers? Why or why not?
11. What happened to the vase that Ginger destroyed after she told her mother about her divorce? 
What might that symbolize about Helen's attitude toward her daughter?
12. What were both Amy and Cal swinging on that was dangerous? Why did Ginger allow it?
13. What does Amy try to shock her mom by saying at Helens's breakfast table? What is Amy possibly trying to do?
14. What must the kids put on the Christmas tree for Rose's sake?  Why do the aunts say it must continue even after Rose is gone?
15. What is it that convinces Helen to send Ginger the oplatek for Wigilia?
16. Who calls Helen's house on Christmas Eve?  Where is she calling from?
17. Why does Amy like Lois, the Black girl from the swimming pool?
18. Why do Amy's grandma and aunts dislike Lois?
19. Does Amy ever get any of her paintings from the summer  of '75 displayed?
20. Which room in Helen's house is like a ranch in the west (like Nebraska--although it never names a specific state) and why?
21. Does Helen actually pack her new blue suitcase? Why doesn't she go to Arizona?
22. When Rose dreams of her perfect man, what does she realize is never in her dreams?
23. How are Ginger and Amy's eating habits in Detroit different than those in Phoenix?
24. Where does the chiming clock end up?
25. What does Taklaw mean in English?  How did he help Amy?
26. Why was it important for Amy to know where the motorcycle was in Thailand?
27. How did Ginger get the money for her bus ride out of Detroit?
28. Why did Amy come back to the U.S.?  Why didn't she come home sooner?
29. What memories does Amy have of her mother's house?  
30. What is Cal able to do now that he never did when Ginger was alive? 
31. What does Amy leave at her mother's grave? Why?
32. What book does Amy make for her daughter?
33. Who is still alive at the end of the novel?