The Wingshooters

Life in a small town can be oppressive and constricting - its residents wary and unwelcoming of strangers, change and dissimilar thoughts. This is the backdrop for "The Wingshooters." The story centers on a young biracial Japanese-American girl who is left to live with her white grandparents in a rural Wisconsin town. It's a beautiful coming-of-age story about feeling like an outsider and learning to live with the conflict that arises when the people you love are bigoted and flawed. Recommend for those who enjoy literary fiction that provokes thought and stirs emotion.

Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin-a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her English Springer Spaniel, Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town's most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproved of his son's marriage to Michelle's mother but dotes on his only grandchild, whom he calls Mikey.

This fragile peace is threatened when the expansion of the local clinic leads to the arrival of the Garretts, a young Black couple from Chicago. Betty Garrett is hired as a nurse, and her husband, Joe, works as a substitute teacher at the elementary school. Their presence deeply upsets most of the residents-especially when Mr. Garrett makes a controversial accusation against one of the town leaders, Charlie's best friend.

In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, A River Runs Through It, and Snow Falling on Cedars, Nina Revoyr's novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes conflicting loyalties of family and justice.

1. Charlie LeBeau helps people in his community and is a loving caretaker to Mikey, yet he also leads efforts to intimidate the Garretts. How can these opposing qualities coexist in one man? Do you see him as good, bad, or somewhere in between?

2. Wingshooters is set in 1974, post-Civil Rights movement and at the end of the Vietnam War. How do national and world events shape the novel's local conflicts?

3. Mikey is half-Japanese and lived in Japan before moving to Deerhorn. Why is she ostracized? Have you witnessed or experienced similar childhood exclusions?

4. Charlie and Stewart LeBeau clash over many issues. Do you sympathize with Stewart's viewpoints? How do their generational expectations of manhood influence their decisions?

5. What are the benefits and drawbacks of a close-knit community like Deerhorn?

6. The male characters pride themselves on traditional "men's men" roles. What positive and negative aspects of this masculinity emerge, and how does Mikey perceive them?

7. Consider the roles of women in Wingshooters-Helen, Mikey's grandmother, and Betty Garrett. How do they conform to or defy community expectations?

8. Why does Mikey feel drawn to the Garretts? What do their acts of kindness reveal about them?

9. Darius Gordon and Jim Riesling oppose the town's treatment of the Garretts. What allows them to see things differently?

10. Brett, Michelle's dog, plays a pivotal role early on. What is his significance to Mikey and to the novel's climax?

11. Kevin Watson harbors a terrible secret. Have you encountered similar family secrets? How did you handle them?

12. The story is narrated by an adult Michelle reflecting on age nine. What does this retrospective viewpoint add? How would the novel differ if told by a nine-year-old?

13. How might Earl Watson's childhood have influenced his adult choices? What are the wider implications of his story?

14. The Garretts act on principle despite personal risk. Why do they do this, and would you do the same?

15. Canada geese appear throughout. What thematic role do they play for Mikey and the story?

16. How do the two epigraphs that open the novel set the tone for its themes?

17. Michelle states that "blood does not run thicker than color." What does she mean, and do the events support or contradict her belief?

18. Wingshooters explores faith, sin, and redemption. Which characters seek redemption, and can it be achieved?

19. How do Mikey's feelings toward her grandfather evolve? Have you had to reconcile love with disappointment in your own life?

20. Set nearly 50 years ago in rural America, could Wingshooters' events happen today?

21. Can you share an instance when someone was mistreated for being different? What happened, and how do you view it now?

22. Do any characters, settings, or conflicts in Wingshooters resonate with present-day America?