Private Life of Mrs. Sharma (Kapur) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, consider our LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma...then take off on your own:

1. What do you think of Renu Sharma? How sympathetic is she as a character? Does your attitude toward her change over the course of the novel? Why or why not?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: When we first meet her, Rena is full of boasts—about her son Bobby's good looks, her own desirability, her inner character. What do we come to learn about her boastfulness? Deep down, what is it really about?

3. Renu often refers to herself as "respectable." What does the following statement reveal about her?

I have a child and a respectable job, and a mother-in-law and father-in-law. I am not a schoolgirl, and even when I was a schoolgirl, when I was Miss Renuka Mishra, even then I actually never did the types of things that other girls of my age did.

4.  Renu tells us, "I agreed to go out with him [Veneet] and I don’t think that it was wrong.” What do you make of that declaration? Is she being honest—with us, with herself? Is there a hint of defensiveness about her avowal ... or perhaps of naivete ... maybe even of self-deception?

5. Follow-up to Question 4: Renu's decision to pursue a relationship with Veneet is at first innocent enough, but it's a slippery slope or, to use another cliche, a case in which one thing leads to another. Was the couple's slipping down that slope inevitable?

6. What does Renu's life reveal about the role of women in India? How would you describe their position in the social hierarchy? Is feminism in Renu's socioeconomic strata alive and well?

7. What does the fact that Renu's husband works in Dubai indicate about the Indian economy and what it takes to attain a middle-class life?

8. What does Renu mean when she says, “I sometimes think that the head and heart that God gave me don’t actually belong to me.”

9. Do you find the ending satisfying? Does Ratika Kapur have you on pins and needles as the book moves toward its denoument? Would you have preferred a different ending to the novel?

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

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