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Reading Questions for Throw it to the River

1. How is reading a collection of short stories different from reading a novel? There were 14 stories. Do you have a favourite? Do you have a least favourite?
2. Most (all?) of the main characters identified as butch. Do you identify as butch? Did you like reading stories from this perspective? For instance, did you enjoy “Stone Butch,” and the main character, Mitos?
3. The copy on the back cover says that the book “expands the definitions of butch.” How many different definitions of “butch” do you think the book offers?
4. Some of the stories didn’t give names to the characters, such as in “Big Nipple of the North.” Did you like this?
5. Many of the stories had lesbian characters that knew they were lesbians (or something different anyway) at a very young age, such as “When You’re Six.” What did you think of this? Did you know at a young age that you were “different”? Do you know anyone who has had this experience?
6. What did you think of “The Lesbian Hen”?
7. In “Innocent Lust” the main character’s first girlfriend gets married to a man and has children. This is one of those clichéd lesbian stories, and yet it didn’t seem trite, or bitter. What made it different, do you think? (Or did you find it trite, or bitter?)
8. “Keepsake” told another lesbian cliché – an affair with an older woman. But the author’s take on this story was pretty surprising… what did you think?
9. Did you find the title story, “Throw it to the River,” touching? Sad? Funny?
10. “GI Jane” told a story in an unusual way. What effect did the letter style have on you?
11. In general, did you find Nice Rodriguez’s storytelling funny? Too light? Too graphic? Brilliant? Something else?

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