Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro
12 March 2009, 12:00 am
Slow Motion
Dani Shapiro
ISBN:9780156008471
About the book:
Dani Shapiro, a young woman from a deeply religious home, became the girlfriend of a famous and flamboyant married attorney-her best friend’s stepfather. The moment Lenny Klein entered her life, everything changed: she dropped out of college, began drinking, and neglected her friends and family. But then came a phone call-an accident on a snowy road had left her parents critically injured. Forced to reconsider her life, Shapiro learned to re-enter the world she had left. Telling of a life nearly ruined by the gift of beauty, and then saved through tragedy, Shapiro’s memoir is a beautiful account of how a life gone terribly wrong can be rescued through tragedy.
Discussion Questions:
Q. It seems clear that Dani has come a long way from the young girl she writes about in Slow Motion. That journey began with a family tragedy-but family tragedies can often lead people further down a path of self-destruction. Instead, Dani pulled herself out of a downward spiral. Why do you suppose the accident had that effect on her?
Q. In certain respects, Slow Motion can be read as a story of Orthodoxy and rebellion. What are some of the reasons Dani might have rebelled against her strict upbringing?
Q. There are many places in Slow Motion where Dani describes herself as being torn between her two parents. What are some instances where she finds herself torn? How does this affect her? How does this feeling of being a divided self play a role in the decisions she makes?
Q. Why do you suppose Dani becomes involved – and stays with – such an unsavory character as Lenny Klein? Particularly since she portrays him as physically unattractive, bombastic, self-centered, and a liar?
Q. A mystery at the heart of Slow Motion is Dani’s friendship with Jess. What do you make of this friendship? In the final conversation between Dani and Jess, Dani asks her: "Why did you set me up like that at your party?" And Jess replies, "It’s hard to explain, but I had my reasons." What do you think her reasons might have been?
Q. Slow Motion is written from Dani’s perspective, ten years later, and moves in much the way memory moves: back and forth in time, in an unlinear fashion, following Dani’s emotional life, and making psychological-rather than plot-driven-connections. How does this affect your reading of the story? What are some of the passages where the insights Dani gained over time become clear?
Q. Dani doesn’t tell the story of her whole life; instead, she looks carefully at one dramatic moment in time. What are some of the differences between memoir and autobiography? And why do you think she chose to tell this story as nonfiction rather than fiction?
