We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.Īfter Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. This reading group guide for Kept Animals includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club.

Narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire, Kept Animals is “gorgeous, sensual.an event-packed novel of class, desire, coming-of-age ” (The New York Times Book Review). One night, as the relationships among these teenagers come to a head, a forest fire tears through the canyon, and Rory’s life is changed forever. Rory discovers photography, begins riding more competitively, and grows closer to seductive, mercurial Vivian, but despite her newfound sense of self, disaster lurks all around her in this “exquisite exploration of hurt and desire” (Jeannette Walls): in the parched landscape, in her unruly longings, in her stepfather’s wrecked body and guilty conscience. Rory keeps largely separate from the likes of the Prices-but, perched on her bedroom windowsill, Rory steals glimpses of Vivian swimming in her pool nearly every night.Īfter Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. While Rory draws the interest of out-and-proud June, she’s more intrigued by Vivian Price, the beautiful girl with the movie-star father who lives down the hill. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk.

It’s 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeĪ “rugged and ravishing” ( Oprah Daily) debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.A Reader’s Digest Quarantine Book Club Pick.Named a most anticipated novel by Oprah Daily, Vogue, Parade, The Millions, and Electric Lit

Kept animals kate milliken