Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
October 1999
Drinking The Rain
by Alix Kate Shulman
- At the beginning of the book (p.4), Shulman says that she came to the
island to fill her life. Do you think she accomplished this and with what
did she fill it?
- Contrast her coping with the imagined "hacker" during the first stay on
the island with the real "hacker" in Colorado. What had happened to her to
cause such different reactions?
- What does the following reveal to you about Shulman?
"And for the first time ever, I allow myself the reckless thought that it
may not matter if I write or not: with no one here to judge me,
discovering what exactly I will do may be a more interesting project
than writing a book."
- What's your definition of the differences between long and short thoughts?
- Baldwin's paradox first appears on page 60 and then she returns to it on
page 240 and defines it as her credo. This would seem to justify my feeling
that she is a 'professional' activist rather than passionate about a specific
cause (feminism). Do you agree?
- Shulman presents a dichotomy of a sort. From the information we have, she
was a 'city girl' and yet she seems to take to nature almost at once. She
finds great truths about herself in nature. Share your favorite revelation.
- Over the approximately ten-year span from when she first goes to the
island until the book is completed, many things happen in her life (page 105)
that she does address in any detail. Should we draw any conclusions from this
treatment. Is there a clue on page 239?
- Throughout the book, I picked up on several themes--food, connections, and
unity. What themes did you find?