The Heirs (Rieger) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Heirs :

1. Talk about the family scion, Rupert Falkes as we first learn of him. What were your initial thoughts of him, and how do they change throughout the novel? How is he shaped by his past?

2. The question that Susan Rieger explores in her novel is one of identity. If someone close to you presents him/herself with certain personal traits and beliefs but, upon death, is found to have another life…can you claim to know that individual? How do we know anyone: through our own experiences …or in combination with other peoples' experiences?

3. The portrait of the Falkes family that Rieger offers us is a fairly detailed slice of the urban elite. Did you feel a touch of voyeuristic pleasure peering into such elevated society — the richly appointed apartments, dinners out with Veuve Clicquot? Or did you find it cloying? Do you think the author may be poking fun at her characters life-styles and all  that they take for granted? Or does the writing not come across as satirical?

4. How would you describe each of the characters? Start with Eleanor and then proceed through the five sons/brothers. Are there any Falkes you prefer over any others?

5. How does the appearance of Vera Wolinski shake Eleanor's and each of the five sons' lives? How differently do they react? Trace the trajectory of their individual paths as they come to grips with the death of their father and all that ensues.

6. Everyone engages in highly questionable behavior: infidelity, lying, neglectful parenting, stalking children, and even a rape. Can anyone in this book lay claim to possessing a moral compass?

7. Are you satisfied with the way the novel ended? What understanding of Rupert does Eleanor come to that her sons do not, or cannot?

8. Discuss the structure of the novel with its separate but intersecting chapters from the viewpoints of the various characters. How does the structure contribute to what we learn about each of the family members? What about Vera's story? How does it affect your experience of reading The Heirs.

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

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