FALLING FROM

HORSESBY

MOLLY GLOSSABOUT THE BOOK

From the best-selling author of The Hearts of Horses and The Jump-Off Creek, an absorbing, plainspoken, elegantly rendered novel about a young cowboy who escapes a family tragedy and travels to Hollywood to become a stunt rider in the movies

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Molly Gloss is the best-sell-ing author The Hearts of Horses, The Jump-Off Creek, winner of both the Pacif-ic Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award, The Dazzle of Day, winner of the PEN Center West Fiction Prize, and Wild Life, winner of the James Tiptree Jr. Award. To have Molly visit your book club by phone, contact her at molly@mollygloss.com.

www.mollygloss.com

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

FALLING FROM

HORSESBY

MOLLY GLOSS

SIGNATURE DRINK

Bud Frazer boards a Greyhound bus in 1938, set on leaving his ranching days behind him and starting a shiny new career as a stunt rider in Hollywood. Stay in theme with this signature cocktail (also the author’s favorite drink).

BUD’S GREYHOUND 2 ounces vodka (the author recommends

Deep Eddy Ruby Red Grapefruit Vodka, made in Austin, Texas)

4 ounces fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

y Pour the ingredients into a Collins glass with ice cubes.

y Stir well. y Garnish with grapefruit wedge or sprig

of rosemary.

VARIATIONS

y For a little fiery kick, add bitters.y Sweeten it up with a splash of pineapple juice.y Top with grapefruit spritzer, or plain spritzer and a splash of Rose’s

lime juice.y For a faux cocktail (nonalcoholic), add a splash of grenadine to

grapefruit juice in an ice-filled Collins glass.

www.mollygloss.com

FALLING FROM

HORSESBY

MOLLY GLOSS

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Bud sets out for Hollywood intending to find work as a movie cowboy. What does he imagine this work will look like? What are his preconceived notions about the Hollywood movie industry? Where did his notions come from?

2. Much of the novel takes place on the cusp of World War Two. Do you see events in the larger world having much impact on the characters’ lives? How do you think the war will affect each of them?

3. How is the ranch life of Bud’s childhood different from, or the same as, the ranching life he has seen portrayed in western films? Before reading this novel, what shaped your own views of life in the ranching West?

4. Lily came to Hollywood determined to become a screenwriter. What qualities did she possess that might have helped her succeed? What roadblocks stood in her way?

5. Did you think the relationship between Bud and Lily would blossom into romance? What do you think may have led them instead toward an enduring, lifelong friendship?

6. Parts of the novel are set on a ranch in the 1920s and early 1930s, a time of worldwide economic depression, drought, and technological advances. How were these things changing the way of life for ranchers in the West? Can you think of aspects of ranch life that remain the same today as in the 1880s when Elbert Echol and his wife first settled on their ranch?

7. Late in the novel, Bud speaks of ways in which “the cowboy stories went wrong,” and he tells us “the humanity has been hollowed out of our movie heroes and villains.” What do you think he meant by this? Do you agree with his statements?

8. Bud witnessed the deaths of animals and people on the Echol Creek ranch, and also in his work as a stunt rider for the movie industry. Explore the ways in which these experiences were different, and had different effects on Bud.

www.mollygloss.com