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Wrap Your Ass in Fiberglass – A Novel by George Miller

Women's Book Club Notes

1. Throughout the narration, John's daughter Cathleen is writing a book report on the western Maryland frontier classic Red Morning, the saga of Jane Frazier, a pioneer woman kidnapped by Indians. Do you think a macho pioneer woman is a good role model for our young women? Have you ever stopped by the Jane Frazier historical marker on Industrial Boulevard in Cumberland, Maryland? Don't you think the author shows his inner sensitivity and beauty in these passages? Don't you think you should get all of your friends to buy such a sensitive and caring book?
2. At the beginning of Chapter 2, John McDowell is sniveling and whining because he can't find anyone to pick up his kids after school. Doesn't he realize that women have to deal with kids everyday? Don't you wish you had a nice, sweet, caring grandmother to raise your children?
3. Chapter 4 finally gets around to the children after fifty pages. Why does the narrator dally at the workplace and bars for three chapters? Why is Chapter 3 so long? Who really cares how many times Jackie has scored? Who cares about the shape of government conference tables? Why does the book dwell so long on the boring masculine side?
4. In one of the more touching passages, Jackie's boss and mentor Abe Bernstein discusses angels with John's daughter Denise. Do you believe in angels? Do you agree with Denise that there are good and bad angels? Did you know that a recent book on the sad state of American culture used the high proportion of Americans who believe in angels as an indicator of the decline of our social order?
5. Chapter 2 discusses the competitive edge that a grandmother past child bearing age can offer her grandchildren. Discuss the evolutionary consequences of grandmothers raising their children's children. Don't you think grandmothers are underrated?

6. What do you think of the author's treatment of women? We have Jackie chasing John around trying to get into his pants, John's mother raising his children for him, his sister Barbara as a hopeless druggie, his wife Liz who left him with two small children to pursue her literary career, the foxy folk singer bk mitchell, the assistant associate deputy director of regulation Alice Chambers, and the competent black woman Gloria Cummings as guardian angel of minorities at the Bureau of Regulation. Do you think the author is too chicken-shit politically correct to bash Gloria?

7. What do you think of the author's treatment of children? Don't you think he enjoys the crabapple battle a little too much? Wouldn't most of the dysfunctional adults have been better off had they remained children throughout their lives? Do you think Cathleen and Denise's free range life along the river is a bit too idyllic?

8. At the end of chapter 17, the author introduces the concept of the Nice Hot Steamy Shower. Some readers think that the Nice Hot Steamy Shower has sexual, orgasmic overtones, some believe that it represents the state of atonement that Jackie achieves at the end of the book, and some consider it a "soap and water" metaphor that Jackie has finally cleaned up her act. What do you think?

9. Does your book club have trouble attracting the right men? Don't you think the Masculine Side Book Club Notes are really insipid? Would you be willing to include a few of the inane Masculine Side Book Club Notes in your discussion to attract a few gorgeous hunks to your book club?

10. Later in the book, a gang of yuppie children engages a gang of redneck children in a far-ranging crabapple battle. (The archetypal crabapple battle is intended to appeal to each reader's childhood memories.) Did you ever feel like wailing the shit out of a womanizing redneck with a few well-placed crabapples? Discuss the role of crabapples in the war between the sexes.

11. The narrator consistently introduces controversial subjects such as drunk driving, child neglect, racism, drug addiction, and marital infidelity without pointing out the obvious improprieties. Don't you think the narrator has an obligation to the reader to identify inappropriate behavior? Discuss three examples of inappropriate behavior in the book. For extra credit, see if you can identify any examples of appropriate behavior.

George Miller © 2009

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