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Discussion Questions

Outlaw Cravings

By
Benita Porter

  1. In a moment of frustration, Terry Outlaw blurts out that he misses his loneliness. What is the difference between solitude and loneliness? What are their points of similarity?
  2. While we can all agree that passionate love has much to teach us about ourselves and the family dramas we carry inside us, what is your view of Terry Outlaw's erotic obsession with Rachel Welles? Can you site other examples when a celebrity has placed a higher value on obsession than any other aspect of his immensely full life? Can you imagine yourself in this position?
  3. Can a serial sexual purveyor such as Terry Outlaw, accustomed to being perpetually rewarded for having a special artistic talent, ever fully reform? If so, under what circumstances?
  4. In a younger woman/older man relationship, could there ever be a level playing field?
  5. Jesse Outlaw's influence over her son is irrefutable. Do you perceive their mother-son relationship as loving and intimate or is it unnatural?
  6. According to a New York Times article by David Brooks, published April 17, 2005, while the entertainment media has become more sex-saturated, the attitudes of American teenagers have become more sexually conservative. Rachel and Dorian Welles are examples of American youth who may appear raunchy on the surface, but who are wholesome and vulnerable within. What are the benefits and downturns of this new trend?
  7. Does living a public life in show business appeal to you in the same way as before you read Outlaw Cravings? If you were suddenly thrust into the public eye, do you think that the added confidence of celebrity might induce you to take more sexual risks?
  8. Betrayal among family members is one of the central themes in Outlaw Cravings. Choose one of the following pairs of characters and defend/refute the concept of forgiveness between them:
       a. Terry & Symone
       b. Terry & Rachel
       c. Terry & Brick
       d. Rachel & Dorian
       e. Rachel & Symone
  9. Terry Outlaw expresses open admiration for his first wife, Symone Outlaw, yet repeatedly contemplates the tedium of their marriage. What is your opinion of his viewpoint that familiar sex can be filling, even fattening, yet it provides no thrill to the taste buds, no bittersweet edge, and no danger?
  10. If your four-year-old child exhibited musical talent on a prodigy level such as Terry or Eden Outlaw, how would you handle his/her artistic development?
  11. An observant person once said, "When a man marries his mistress, it creates a job opportunity." With that in mind, how do you perceive Terry and Rachel's chances for marital longevity?