Reading Group Discussion Questions
1. What does Linh mean when she says "every name is its own world, every word a journey? What is the importance of language in the novel? How do words color the way we look at the world?
2. How does language unify or separate people? Does the origin of a word affect its significance? Mai first names her father "Linh's American," then later "my American father." How does this reflect their evolving relationship?
3. Lucy seems to live a typically American teenager's life in 1970's Los Angeles. Mai is a Vietnamese refugee. How are their lives parallel? Can you find similarities between Linh and Evelyn, between Thanh and Ruth?
4. What is the role of dreams in our lives? Do they represent past or future experiences? Can we communicate through dreams? Do we take them into our daily lives?
5. The Talmud says "a dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that has not been opened." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakoth, 55a) Do you believe this is true?
6. In one of Lucy's dreams, Lucy sees both the My Lai massacre and Dachau, the German concentration camp. How does the theme of Holocaust run throughout the book?
7. The Vietnam War was the first televised war. How does television influence Lucy? Does T.V. and Lucy's love for creating altered photoscapes prepare her for her dreams of Mai?
8. Aaron's affair with Linh is the fulcrum of the story. What are the factors that lead to his profound but tragic attraction to this woman?
9. The image of hands is repeated throughout the novel. Why are hands important and what do they mean to each of the characters?
10. A sense of sisterhood isn't always a matter of genetics. What other sisterly bonds, besides Mai and Lucy, do you see in the story?
11. What would Mai and Lucy's relationship have been like if they'd grown up together? How would you feel if you suddenly discovered you had a sibling? What impact would it have on your family?
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