Evvie Drake Starts Over

When Monica hears Evvie describe Tim’s behavior, she is the first to point out that Evvie is enduring emotional abuse. Does the novel suggest that people outside a relationship have the obligation to point out to people inside a relationship that they are being emotionally abused?

Dean suffers from “yips,” the sudden inability to pitch the baseball with the accuracy that made him a World Series winner. How does the novel compare Dean’s “yips” to Evvie’s emotional journey in the novel?

Over the course of the narrative, the author gives a gradual but comprehensive description of Dean’s appearance, including his height, eye and hair color, physical features, and even the scar on his forehead. Why does the author not describe the physical features of any other character?

Both of the main characters undergo therapy. Does Holmes resist or participate in the trends of romance novels by having the loving couple end up in treatment?

In Evvie Drake Starts Over, all the main characters apart from Tim are compelled to start over by forces beyond their control: Dean cannot pitch; Andy’s wife leaves him with two small children; and Evvie’s mother leave Evvie’s father. Yet each of these individuals eventually achieves great emotional and intellectual gains after being forced to start over. What does Holmes suggest about the effects of great changes on a person’s creativity and inner strength?

It becomes clear as the novel progresses that every person who undergoes the process of emotional healing—Evvie, Dean, Andy, Frank, Monica, and Kell—has one or more trusted loved ones on whom they lean. What does Holmes suggest is true about emotional healing and community?

Sitting on the floor of her kitchen after accidentally creating the huge applesauce, rice, and hardware mess, Evvie erupts with a bellowing sound she has never heard before. What emotions were behind that strange sound? Use evidence from the novel to explain Evvie’s behavior.

Evvie resents the labels automatically placed on her by society. What relationship does Holmes suggest exists between societal labels and changes in how an individual is treated by others?