Liar & Spy

How do Georges’s efforts to keep his priorities on the big picture rather than on his daily problems backfire? What does the novel seem to suggest about balancing a larger perspective with a concern for the smaller things that still have power to affect him?

How does the structure of the novel echo the Pointillist style that serves as an extended metaphor for life within the narrative?

How does the theme of Finding Safety in Community apply to Dallas and Carter’s friend group?

How does Georges transform from an isolated loner at the beginning of the novel to the unifying leader of the Blue Team at the end? What character traits put him in this position? Which does he have to develop more to fulfill the role? Use specific examples from the text to examine his shift.

How does the novel’s motif of Rules and rule-breaking work to first develop and then undermine the social hierarchy at school?

Why does the Blue Team’s plan to undermine Dallas by pretending not to taste the chemical work to strip him of some of his power? Why can he not declare them all to be “steaming pile[s] of spaz” (112, 137) the way he planned to label Georges?

How does Georges’s role as an unreliable narrator both obscure his mother’s absence and highlight his internal conflicts of denial and avoidance?

What claims does the author make about the importance of Perspective? How can a change in perspective lead to a change in circumstances?