Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, try these LitLovers talking points for several of the stories to help get a discussion started for The American Wife stories:
1. In the "Garage Artist," what is the significance of Daniel's snowscapes? Why is it the only thing he paints?
2. In "The Changeling," can you personally relate to Sandy's fear that her infant has been replaced by another? Do you believe that's actually what has happened here? How might her fear be emblematic of a troubled marriage?
3. Talk about the relationship of the young woman and her mother in "Levitation." How does the title of the story relate to the protagonist's attempt to establish independence from her mother and lead a life of her own making?
4. Talk about the humor—or pathos—in "Cousins" regarding Edie's mother, who "has largely dispensed with politeness." Edie sees this as a "conservation-of-energy move." Also, in what way does this story illuminate obligations to family and kin?
5. In "The Scow," how does the protagonist come to believe that her parents may have ended their own lives? How does such a discovery affect the way she views her own life?
6. In the title story, what does the American wife come to learn about herself while living in England? What prompts her self-discovery?
8. In what way does "Since You've Been Gone" explore the dangers of interracial relationships?
9. How do many (or all) of Elaine Ford's short stories explore this thematic idea: "In making poems, as in living, non c'e trucco. There is no trick, no secret, no shorcut. You must find your way yourself. That is what...we all must [learn]"?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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