1. Iris Biddle and Lana Burton are six years apart in age, but much wider apart in experience. What were the defining moments of Iris's adulthood? What about Lana's?

2. What does Iris's approach to her lampshades—she has very clear opinions on how she likes them to look—tell us about her character, her heart?

3. Why does Lana love "dream ballets"? How does she use the concept of the dream ballet in her own life, and why does she need to?

4. Some of the chapters actually pair up, with Iris and Lana going through similar rites but with different outcomes and meanings. For example, "Standing Room" and "Aisle Seat" see each woman contemplating her place in a public sphere and hierarchy. What do we learn about Iris and Lana in these two chapters?

5. How do "Honey West" and "Behemoth" interrelate? What do you think of Lana's notion of the "sacred wound"? How many characters might it apply to in this book?

6. Iris thinks she's moving stoically forward. Is she? How aware is she really of the state of her emotions?

7. Lana's father is a judge, and she is a critic. At the same time, Lana prides herself on empathy and understanding. Is there an inherent tension in this? How judgmental is Lana? Is she as fair as she thinks she is?

8. Iris seems to live through symbols and metaphors, deriving solace from "things" ("Objects," she says, "could have a kind of soul"). What does the white blouse in the first chapter mean to her? At what point in the novel do "things" fail her?

9. Is Lana culpable in her own problems with "divas" like Sylvie and Fernanda? What attracts her to these friendships? Could they, should they, have been saved?

10. What is the leap Iris is able to make in "f(light)"? What does making the leap do for her artistically, emotionally?

11. How far has Lana traveled by the time we get to "An Hour of Your Time"? In what ways has she grown or changed?

12. What is Iris looking for in a man? What has she found at the novel's end?