Siracusa (Ephron)

Siracusa
Delia Ephron, 2016
Penguin Publishing
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399165214


Summary
An electrifying novel about marriage and deceit that follows two couples on vacation in Siracusa, a town on the coast of Sicily, where the secrets they have hidden from one another are exposed and relationships are unraveled.

New Yorkers Michael, a famous writer, and Lizzie, a journalist, travel to Italy with their friends from Maine—Finn; his wife, Taylor; and their daughter, Snow.

“From the beginning,” says Taylor, “it was a conspiracy for Lizzie and Finn to be together.” Told Rashomon-style in alternating points of view, the characters expose and stumble upon lies and infidelities past and present.

Snow, ten years old and precociously drawn into a far more adult drama, becomes the catalyst for catastrophe as the novel explores collusion and betrayal in marriage.

With her inimitable psychological astute­ness and uncanny understanding of the human heart, Ephron delivers a powerful meditation on marriage, friendship, and the meaning of travel.

Set on the sun-drenched coast of the Ionian Sea, Siracusa unfolds with the pacing of a psychological thriller and delivers an unexpected final act that none will see coming. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Born—July 12, 1944
• Raised—Beverly Hills, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York

Although born in New York City, Delia Ephron was raised in famed Beverly Hills, California, by her screen-writing parents. She was the second of four daughters, the oldest of whom was Nora Ephron (1941-2012).

Ephron attended Barnard College (now part of Columbia University) and after graduation stayed in New York, where she met David Brock at a 1969 Martin Luther King rally in Central Park. The two married and, when Brock was offered a teaching position at Brown University, moved to Providence, Rhode Island. In 1971, using her married name, she co-authored two craft books with Lorraine Rodgers: The Adventurous Crocheter and Glad Rags.

In 1975, the couple split up, with Ephron returning to New York and to her maiden name in order to pursue writing. A humorous 500-word article for The New York Times Magazine, "How to Eat Like a Child," was expanded into a book in 1978. It became a bestseller, and Ephron became a contributing editor for New York magazine—her writing career was launched.

Ephron met Jerome Kasner, a screenwriter and playwright, who taught her how write a screenplay. They fell in love, and Ephron moved with him back to Los Angeles, where she remained for many years—writing books (for kids and adults) and screenplays and producing films—until eventually returning to New York.

And her relationship with her more famous sister, Nora? "Very close," according to Delia. In 1978 She told Judy Klemesrud of The New York Times that Nora was her best friend:

Nora encouraged me. She's always been wonderful. She has looked at my work, and I've looked at hers, too. She's one of the best editors in New York. She'll look at a piece and say just one thing, and the whole piece is better.

The two worked together on many projects. After losing Nora to cancer in 2012, she wrote her 2013 memoir, Sister Mother Husband Dog (Etc.). In an interview, Ephron told Publishers Weekly that she never expected to have to go through life without her sister. "Grief stops you in your tracks, it makes you feel you should move on, but you can’t."  Ephron eventually did move on, of course, and in 2016 published Siracusa, a suspense novel about two families traveling together in Europe.

Book Reviews
An irresistible novel for fans of psychological thrillers, or those considering vacationing with former lovers and spouses (often one and the same).
Oprah Magazine


[A] suspenseful, thoroughly delicious tale. You can almost taste the gelato.
People


(Starred review.) A seductive and edgy dissection of two imploding marriages—and an unhinged mother-daughter alliance.... Each of these toxic relationships puts the characters on course to careen headlong into a dark place of deceit and rage in Ephron’s brilliant takedown of marital and familial pretense.
Publishers Weekly


This could be a quick beach read for those interested in romantic suspense or travel writing, as long as they don't mind the cast of unlikable characters. —Kate Gray, Boston P.L., MA
Library Journal


A master of precise and keen character development, a virtuoso of pacing and surprise, a wizard at skewering convention and expectation, Ephron offers a bewitching take on relationships—marital, parental, casual, and serious—in this read-in-one-sitting, escapist escapade with a message.
Booklist


Siracusa starts innocuously enough, as an ironic travelogue about American sophisticates abroad....with each narrator recounting and interpreting the same encounters from vastly differing perspectives….As the clues pile up, the coming storm is expertly foreshadowed—but when it arrives, it’s utterly surprising.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Siracusa...then take off on your own:

1. Lizzie comments at the beginning of Siracusa: "Husbands and wives collaborate, hiding even from themselves who is calling the shots and who is along for the ride." What exactly does she mean, and how does that observation portend events to come in the novel? Would you say that statement holds true for many marriages, if not most?

2. This book is about two imploding marriages. Talk about each marriage and what is at the root of those implosions. What are the ways in which the two couples differ from one another? Where are the fault lines, not just within the relationships, but also within each of the four personalities?

3. Michael, a novelist, says: "As for lying, in this story, which is also my  life, I will make a case for the charm of it." What does he mean? Is he distorting his own life for literary purposes?

4. What role does Snow play in all of this? How would you describe her?

5. Talk about how the characters are prone to both deception and self-deception. Do you find one character more sympathetic than the others? Lizzie, perhaps?

6. Describe the mother-daughter relationship between Taylor and Snow. Healthy? Unhealthy?

7. Of the various perspectives in this book, whose narration did you trust the most? Did that change over the course of the novel?

8. What do you make of Kath and her sudden appearance?

9. As a novel of psychological suspense, Ephron expertly piles up the clues. Were you able to sort them out by the end? Were you caught off guard?

10. Ultimately, what portrait does Ephron paint of marriage? Is her assessment overly dark, even cynical? Lizzie says, "Marriage can't protect you from heartbreak of the random cruelties and unfairnesses that life deals out." Is she right...or not?

11. Lizzie also tells us that "good comes of bad and all the absurdities play out in your favor." Does the story's plot seem to bear her out? Does real life?

12. Inevitable comparisons have been made between Siracusa and Ford Maddox Ford's masterpiece, The Good Soldier (1915). If you've read Ford's book, in what way do the two books resemble one another? If you haven't read The Good Soldier, you might consider reading it next and comparing the two.

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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