Welcome to Higby: A Novel [Paperback]

Following the national success ofElla Minnow Pea,this second novel from Mark Dunn brings the same charm and love of good language to a small town in the South. A Robert Altmanesque comedy,Welcome to Higbyfollows the hilarious goings-on in a small town in northern Mississippi over Labor Day weekend. From mousy Carmen Valentine, whose guardian angel, Arnetta, gives her penny-pinching shopping tips, to addled old Hank Grammar, who preaches Jesus to his neighbors' pets, Higby's townsfolk have a knack for getting into -- and trouble getting out of -- outrageous situations. Blessed with an unerring eye for dead-on details, Dunn lovingly traces the eccentric and touching lives of his characters, offering an intelligent yet heartwarming vision of life in small-town America.Welcome to Higbyis a Southern comical tale about simple dreams both realized and thwarted by all the complexities of the human heart.Mark Dunn is the author of Ella Minnow Pea, a winner of the Borders Original Voices Award, a finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers title. He has written twenty-five plays and is currently the playwright-in-residence with the New Jersey Repertory Company and Community Theatre League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Originally from Memphis, he now resides with his wife in Greenwich Village.Welcome to Higby
1. Look at the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter. How do they affect your experience of the book? Do you need to be familiar with the Bible to get the meaning of the quote both in and out of the context ofWelcome to Higby?Why?
2. Who is the central character ofWelcome to Higby?Why? What connects the characters? What archetypes do the characters represent? What is author Mark Dunn telling us about life when Euless inherits a huge fortune?
3. What are the themes of the novel? Were they a surprise to you or what you expected from the begilÓ(