Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Rosarita by Anita Desai

1. Go back to the first five pages of the book. How does Desai set the scene? What details does she use to vividly conjure a time and place?
2. Think about the names that appear in this book—Rosarita, Sarita, Bonita, the Stranger. What are we, as readers, supposed to make of them?
3. Rosarita is told in the second person. How does this point of view shape our understanding of the story?
4. Bonita first encounters the Stranger in the Jardín in San Miguel; she also has fond memories of her grandmother's garden in India. What is the significance of gardens in Rosarita? How does this symbolism illuminate the rest of the narrative?
5. In the book, the Jardín is the "third space" that makes Bonita's encounter with the Stranger possible. Reflect on the significance of third spaces. Who, and what, do they service?
6. On page 33, Desai introduces the concept of "learned fearlessness." How does learned fearlessness factor throughout the book? How do each of the characters learn fearlessness? And to what extent can fearlessness truly be learned?
7. When Bonita goes with the Stranger to the art school, the Stranger emphasizes, on page 47, "Here we had Rev-o-lu-tion, not war." What is the Stranger saying here? What does it have to do with the "gringos" she describes later on in the conversation?
8. Throughout the book, we see our characters in motion, moving from one country to another, from one spot to another (often via public transport), even from room to room. What do you make of movement throughout the book? What drives that movement? How do the notions of voluntary and forced movement factor into the story?
9. When Bonita arrives at La Manzanilla, the year-round dwellers tell her why she should stay—and why they do stay. Think about stasis. Do the characters always stay somewhere for the reasons they tell themselves they do?
10. Throughout the book, there's the ever-present question of whether Bonita truly is following her mother's path. Does it matter either way?
11. When faced with the possibility of knowing her mother's story, Bonita feels a dissonance: to know, or not to know? Think about the choices she made in the face of this dissonance. Do you think she made the right ones, despite where they led her?
12. Now that you've read Rosarita, you know that the book isn't about just one thing. Pick a line that, to you, illuminates the book's most central idea.

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