Deceit and Other Possibilities (Hua) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Deceit and Other Possibilities is, as the title suggests, a short story collection about secrets and lies, about what remains hidden. In "Line, Please," Kingsway Lee is a Hong Kong movie star who flees scandal by retreating to his hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area. Do you agree or disagree with how he tries to explain to his mother what happened? "I understand she has resigned herself to such behavior from her irredeemable son," he says. "I envy my nephew’s bright blank future." Does he think he’s capable of changing?

2. In "Loaves and Fishes," Prophet Alex Chan seeks redemption after the apocalypse he predicted failed to come to pass. He returns to making up prophecies to the passenger sitting beside him on the airplane. "Even the most godless youth were hungry for miracles that might rescue them from a future that held melting ice caps, polluted air, chool shootings, a sinking economy, zombies and vampires bursting through their frontdoors." Is deception ever justified, if in pursuit of a higher cause, or does that it inevitably corrupt?

3. In "What We Have is What We Need" presents the image of a seemingly united family: a father slips his arm around a mother’s waist, while their son, Lalo, watches. "From behind, they looked happy," Lalo says. "But you can never see all angles at once." How does fiction offer the opportunity to explore otherwise invisible angles of the human experience?

4. "For What They Shared" pits two women against each other: Lin, a Chinese immigrant, and Aileen, an American-born Chinese, camping beside each other in the redwoods. "Traitor, Lin wanted to tell her. You will always be Chinese. You are not one of them." In what ways are the two women alike, in what ways are they different, and how does that subvert the notion that communities are monolithic?

5. In "The Responsibility of Deceit," Calvin has not yet come out to his immigrant Chinese parents. "As much as I concealed from my parents, I needed them to be there to hide from. Worse than any rejection would be their absence from my life." Do you have a secret you’ve kept from your parents, and if you did eventually decide to tell them, why did you? How did it impact your relationship, for better or for worse?

6. "Accepted" illustrates conflict between generations, featuring a high school graduate struggling with the weight of expectations placed upon her by her immigrant parents. "I was supposed to become a doctor," Elaine Park says, "and buy my parents a sedan and a house in a gated community." Discuss the tension between generations, and how that may be heightened if there are gaps in language and culture?

7. In "The Shot," Sam Radulovich has lost ties to his father’s family, but "never lost the longing for that which made him different." He memorizes curse words and sips traditional plum brandy, but do these actions bring him closer to Serbian culture? Or is he looking for something that he can never find—a sense of belonging? Do you think about your ancestral culture, and in what ways, if any, do you wish you knew more?

8. In "The Older the Ginger," Old Wu muses: "Who didn’t want a rich American uncle,who filled you with a sense of possibility, prosperity close enough to touch? In your dreams, you escaped the prison of your circumstances and danced on the streets paved with gold." Though Old Wu is willing to maintain the illusion of American possibility for others, he himself has grown cynical. Are notions of the American Dream shifting, compared to the past? In what ways is this country still a land of possibility?

9. In "Harte Lake," Anna Murata blames her husband for not teaching her how to build a fire. "She had been a poor student, following without understanding or memorizing. She hated him for undermining her. For acting like he would always be there." What is the root of her anger towards him? How does gender, race, and history shape their relationship?

10. In "The Deal," Pastor David Noh never tells his wife that he used to gamble. "Keeping the secret allowed him to cherish certain memories, jewels he could admire in private rather than submit for public reckoning. God already knew." How do you feel about this paradox? Does he seem like a reliable narrator, and to what degree do you sympathize with him, or do you feel repelled?

(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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