Reader’s Den

Reader's Den: Discussion Questions for "A Piece of Cake" by Jenny Baum, Supervising Adult Librarian, Jefferson Market LibraryFebruary 9, 2009

I hope you have been enjoying the memoir A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown. Here are some discussion questions to get you started. Feel free to talk about other parts of the book as well.

  • Which characters served as turning points in Cupcake’s life, either for better or worse? Do some characters stand out as being more influential? For example, the cop known as “Preacher” or her former boss Dave?
  • She calls Cupcake her “first birth name” on page one, even though it ends up being changed to La’Vette. What significance do you ascribe to her reclaiming the name Cupcake?
  • What role does addiction play in the book? Does its role change with the type of drug ingested or with the type of emotions involved?
  • Cupcake has a meltdown in Dairy Queen on page 379 and V instructs her to make amends. How does this or any other scene in the book encourage her to open up to others?
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Comments

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Wow this was such an

Submitted by Kerri Wallace on February 23, 2009 - 10:04pm

Wow this was such an interesting read! I haven't read a memoir or biography in a long time, so it was a nice change from fiction! I think that Cupcake has a distinct voice that adds to the telling of her personal struggles and growing up, but after a while I stopped feeling sorry for her. Which begins to happen with her family and friends like Nora. I think she was a very stubborn person and maybe it was because of this quality that made her blind to her addictions?