Setting/ Theme
Cal & Becky Jenkins and their son, Skip
Felix & Margaret Salt and their son, Tom
Secrets & Hidden Identities
Impact of Wars
FYI from Bookaccino Live/ Final Jeopardy
100

Where does this story take place?

What is in Bonhomie Ohio

100

Who had a physical disability that was not allowed to join the war?

What was Cal Jenkins, 

  • born with one leg shorter than the other
100

Where was Margaret from and who raised her?

What was an orphanage where she was abandon and raised there by an unmarried woman named Lydia.

100

What was Cal's secret?

What was his affair and then his son with Margaret

100

How many wars does this novel reference?

What is WWl, WWll and Vietnam

100

How many years did it take to write and edit this book for publication?

What was 6 years of writing and 2 years of editing for a total of 8 years.

200

What year does the story take place in?

What is 1945, during and after WWll

200

Becky was considered what kind of person?

What was a medium. who speaks to the dead.

200

Margaret appreciates art, culture, personal freedom, and city life, but finds what stifling?

What is being a mother and a local wife.

200

What was Romans secret?

What was an affair

200

This novel covers how many years?

What is 30- 60 yrs from 1930's- 1988

covers 30 years but spans 60.

200

The concept of this book came from a real live incident which was what?

What was his grandmother had an affair with someone a fews blocks away in the neighborhood, and she told the daughter and this was all revealed after she passed and it left an impression on him. 

300

What does the word Buckeye reference to in the novel?

What is is the nickname of one of the book's characters, Tom Salt. Skip and Tom, as kids they gather buckeye nuts from their yard, sneak into an abandoned mill, and slingshot them at various targets from its roof.  But Tom had hidden a stash of them in his socks to use as ammunition. so he nicknamed him that and it stuck.

Also Buckeye tree is native to the region.

300

Who wrote letters to the presidents?

What is Everett.

300

Maragaret struggles with what?

What is being happy, 

  • struggles with feelings of abandonment and attempts to reinvent herself in a new life
300

How many Secrets did Margaret have and name them?

What was 4, orphan, pregnancy, affair and her husband was bisexual.

300

This novel is considered what kind of genre?

Historical fiction

300

Which character did he have fun creating or writing about?

What was Everett

400

The novel, which starts with a fateful ____, ends with a _______ on a ferris wheel. 

What was KISS and LETTER Becky wrote at 21 to be read at 60 years of age.  Cal saved and gave it to her which ignited a slow hopeful healing of their marriage. Becky never saved his letter.

400

Cal's father suffered from 2 issues?

What was alcohol and severe PSTD

400

Margaret plants a celebratory kiss on Cal’s cheek that initiates the events that will tie these two families together.  Where was this kiss and what day was this?

What was in the hardware store where she asked the manager to turn on the radio and heard the celebration of V-E Day!

400

Felix's secret was found out how?

What was a note in his clothing that was found by Margaret.

400

The novel explores the trauma of war on soldiers and their families highlighting what?

What is PTSD, physical scars and the inability to escape societal expectations.

400

The cover of the book represents what?

What is Quite landscape with clouds and colors. Catchy cover for those to pick up.  Representing 30 years, top barron, then middle trees growing and one light on in house, to The bottom the trees have grown and we are showing more civilization by 2 lights on. NONE of the trees are Buckeye.  and he did not want a ferris wheel on it either.

500

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

The themes that are explored in this novel are?

What is longing, loss, and the enduring impact of the past.  How personal secrets, choices, and global conflicts shape lives over decades.

Key Themes: The Impact of War & Trauma

Secrets and Hidden Identities

Forgiveness & Redemption

Small Town life and change

Parental Love & Neglect

500

Skip was killed in what war?

What was Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.

500

Following the draft lottery, after it is clear Tom will not be drafted, Felix takes Tom to Lake Meyer and tells him what?

What is that he is gay, tells him of his past relationship with Augie, and discloses Margarets affair with Cal resulting in Tom being his biological son.

500

Felix's is a quiet man harboring deep dark secrets, what are some of his struggles?

What is 

  • strives to achieve a respectable middle-class life
  • struggles to connect physically and emotionally with his wife, (can’t understand why he isn’t attracted to women)
  • prioritizing safety and social acceptability over his own desires
500

Buckeye covers the devastation of war on both soldiers and civilians, the silence surrounding PTSD and the loss of innocence for a generation. Give some examples of this?

What is the hoarding and addiction of Everett and how it filters down to Cal

Skips experience and breaks the illusion that war is glorious, but brutal

Changes the course of daily life in a small town

Affects relationships, feelings of loneliness when they are at war.

The lack of support for veterans

500

Final Jeopardy


One bad lie leads to secrets, lies lead to living a lie, which becomes truth. The longer you keep a secret the more you are accountable for the lie and timeframe of it. This complicates what?

What is forgiveness

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