The Love Wife Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of The Love Wife.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

The questions, discussion topics, and suggested reading that follow are designed to enhance your group's reading of Gish Jen's The Love Wife. We hope they will provide you with interesting ways of talking about this funny, touchingly realistic novel about the new American family by the acclaimed author of Typical American and Mona in the Promised Land.

1. At the beginning of the novel, Blondie says, "At least I had my family. Every happy family has its innocence. I suppose, looking back, this was ours" (p. 4). Is her belief in the sanctity of the family shared by the others? In what ways does her upbringing and her position within the Bailey family as "the throwback, a plain Jane who seemed to have no part in certain family games" (p. 70) influence her point of view?
   
   
2. How does Mama Wong's Alzheimer's affect Carnegie's feelings about her? In what ways do his reactions offer insights not only into her character but into Carnegie's as well? Compare his feelings and the way he expresses them to Blondie's blunter observations about her mother-in-law. Are the differences based purely on their relationship to Mama Wong and her treatment of each of them? How does Jen capture the poignancy, the frustration, and even the humor of dealing with an Alzheimer's patient?
   
   
3. Several decades separate the arrivals of Mama Wong and Lan in America. What insights do their backgrounds provide into the position of women in Chinese society both before and after the Communist takeover? Using Carnegie's retelling of Mama Wong's story (p. 30) and Lan's thoughts as she settles into the household (pp. 39-50) and her description of her life in China (p. 95—102) as a starting point, discuss the ways in which their expectations and their experiences as immigrants differ and what they have in common. What do their comments about life in America bring to light about the changes in this country during that same period?
   
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Vintage. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.