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Perpetual West
The riveting new novel by the acclaimed author of Sugar Run, Perpetual West is a brilliant and evocative story of borders—between countries, between lovers, and between facets of the self.
When Alex and Elana move from smalltown Virginia to El Paso, they are just a young married couple, intent on a new beginning. Mexican by birth but adopted by white American Pentecostal parents, Alex is hungry to learn about the place where he was born. He spends every free moment across the border in Juárez—perfecting his Spanish, hanging with a collective of young activists, and studying lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) for his graduate work in sociology. Meanwhile Elana, busy fighting her own demons, feels disillusioned by academia and has stopped going to class. And though they are best friends, Elana has no idea that Alex has fallen in love with Mateo, a lucha libre fighter.
When Alex goes missing and Elana can’t determine whether he left of his own accord or was kidnapped, it’s clear that neither of them has been honest about who they are. Spanning their journey from Virginia to Texas to Mexico, Mesha Maren’s thrilling follow-up to Sugar Run takes us from missionaries to wrestling matches to a luxurious cartel compound, and deep into the psychic choices that shape our identities. A sweeping novel that tells us as much about our perceptions of the United States and Mexico as it does about our own natures and desires, Perpetual West is a fiercely intelligent and engaging look at the false divide between high and low culture, and a suspenseful story of how harrowing events can bring our true selves to the surface.
Book club questions for Perpetual West by Mesha Maren
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
Perpetual West opens with Alex and Elana driving toward the border at El Paso / Juárez, the place where Alex was born. Alex states that he wanted to come to this area in order to “join himself.” What do you think he means by this?
Both Rubi and Vivi ask Elana where her people are from and how she relates to her heritage. Mateo’s wrestler persona is strongly connected to Juárez, but he was not born there. Who has the right to define themselves by a place? What does it even mean to be from a place? What is your relationship to place and your identity?
Concepts of identity are important for all three main characters. Elana is attempting to shift her identity away from her father and her husband. Where does she shift it to? How do Mateo and Alex identify, and does this change throughout the book? Is identity something we can have control over? Is it something we find, or something that finds us?
What role does performance play in this novel? Characters reference the “movie version” of events, there are also Vivi’s plays, and lucha libre has a very performative aspect to it. What is gained and what is lost in the dramatization of events? Have you ever felt as if your performance of your self was more popular than your authentic self?
What role does religion play in Perpetual West?
What do you make of Neto’s dream of employing men who would otherwise travel to the United States for work? What are Neto’s intentions?
Sibling relationships play crucial roles in the novel (Elana and Simon, Neto and his brothers). Do you relate to any of these sibling relationships? In what ways do our siblings show us aspects of ourselves that no one else can?
Toward the end of the novel, Alex discusses with Mateo the fact that he doesn’t believe it is possible to really know yourself. He calls the idea of knowing oneself “stupid, pointless” and “impossible.” Do you agree? Disagree?
Elana questions the ways in which we think we know someone, namely through external markers such as the movies and bands and books they like. What do you think? How well can you really know another person?
What do you think of Elana’s essay on passivity and complacency and female bodies and choices?
Perpetual West Book Club Questions PDF
Click here for a printable PDF of the Perpetual West discussion questions
This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Algonquin Books.