Our next Twitter book club is this Thursday:
Thursday, September 22nd
8-9 pm CST
On Twitter, hashtag #sitsbooks
Discussing Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
I am so excited that Shilpi will be joining us for the Twitter party. This book was one of my top picks of 2010- see post here.
Here are some discussion questions we can tackle on Thursday:
- Kavita faces a difficult choice at the beginning of the novel. Did she make the right decision? What would you have done if you were in Kavita’s place?
- The novel explores the issue of how gender affects one’s role in society, both in India and the United States. Are there any similarities in the female experience across the two cultures?
- An overarching theme of the novel is motherhood, and how that experience can change a woman. What are the differences in how Somer and Kavita experience motherhood, and are there any similarities?
- Are there universal aspects to motherhood or is it an individual experience? How do you believe becoming a mother changes you?
- Both marriages portrayed in the novel, despite different circumstances and origins, face significant challenges. How did Kavita and Jasu’s marriage recover from the dramatic conflict they faced at the beginning? What caused the estrangement between Krishnan and Somer, and how did each spouse contribute to it? Do you believe one marriage is fundamentally stronger than the other? What do you believe the future holds for each couple?
- Asha grows up with a deep curiosity about her biological family in India. Is this is a natural curiosity for all adopted children? Could her parents have done anything to lessen the sense of feeling incomplete Asha had as an adolescent? Can her conflict with Somer be chalked up to that experienced in all mother‐teenage daughter relationships, or was it more complicated? What does Asha learn about the true meaning of family, and could she have learned it without going to India?
I am so excited that you are joining us. Talk to you Thursday night on Twitter.
What are you reading and where are you going?
I absolutely LOVED this book on so many levels! I can’t wait!