51 pages • 1 hour read
Jamie McGuireBeautiful Disaster
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Discuss Abigail Abernathy’s “separate personalities” in the novel and consider the image of the “good” girl that she tries to project in the beginning. What cultural or material signals does Abby employ to indicate to others that she is a “good” girl? What status or distinction does she expect this image to gain her?
Discuss the novel’s theme that physical passion or romantic love can remove or lessen all obstacles in its path. Use evidence from the novel to argue that this assessment is positive, negative, or problematic.
Discuss America’s role as a foil and confidante to Abby. You may enlarge this discussion to consider how America Mason and Shepley Maddox’s new adult relationship mirrors and contrasts with Abby and Travis’s.
Examine how Parker Hayes and Travis Maddox are foils for one another in their representation of the kind of lifestyle each could offer Abby. You may wish to consider the archetypes that each character represents and how these qualities are used to create tension in the novel.
Discuss the allure of the “bad boy” that Travis represents and make an argument for what constitutes or perpetuates this allure. In what ways are Travis’s aggression, drinking, and lack of impulse control valorized or romanticized? Using evidence from the text and drawing on other cultural examples if you wish, make an argument for the consequences of valorizing or romanticizing male misbehavior.
Discuss Abby’s seeming attraction to violence and/or risky behaviors and argue how this plays into both her attraction to and attempts to resist Travis. What part does Abby’s past, including her relationship with Mick, play in the decisions she makes about Travis?
Analyze Travis’s emotional dependency on Abby and how this plays out in their relationship as well as within the conventions of romantic, passionate love. Discuss where the novel posits that Travis’s more egregious behaviors are redeemed, or excused, by his devotion to Abby.
Examine the family backgrounds of Travis and Abby and discuss how these family structures may have provided formative influences or shaped their later choices as young adults. You may further wish to discuss Abby’s status as a talisman with special significance to and influence on both her father and Travis.
Read further books in McGuire’s Beautiful series and discuss the themes, character types, or conflicts that the books share. Note if there are any tenets or features of romantic love in Western literature that these novels adhere to or participate in.
Read one or two other novels aimed at “new adult” readers and discuss the themes, tropes, and literary devices that these novels share or employ. Based on this sample, how would you define the concerns and goals of this genre? You might further consider how new adult fiction is different from young adult or general fiction.
