A Map of Home Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Arabic Music and our BookBrowse Review of A Map of Home.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Nidali opens with the story of her birth and says, “Baba realized that he didn’t know my sex for sure but that didn’t matter; he’d always known I was a boy.” How does the fact that Nidali is female affect her relationship with her father? Do you think Waheed would have been as hard on her if she had been a boy? Examine the dynamics of this father-daughter relationship.
    
2. Nidali grows up in several different countries. What do you learn about adolescence from her varied perspective? Is it a universal experience?
    
3. Examine the several passages in which Nidali reflects on the idea of home and what it means to her. How does she define home? Is it a concept or something more concrete? What does the title refer to?
    

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