Reading guide for Someone by Alice McDermott

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Why does the memory of Pegeen resonate so profoundly for Marie? Is there a similar story from your youth that has had a lasting effect on your life?
2. What does Marie's mother try to teach her about becoming a fulfilled woman? What exceptional qualities does Marie's father possess? How does their marriage shape Marie's vision of her future?
3. Discuss the novel's Brooklyn neighborhood as if it were a character. What are its most colorful attributes? How is it transformed over the years while Marie grows up? Do its inhabitants support one another, or is their gossip judgmental? Think about their speculation over the gender of Dora Ryan's spouse and Bill Corrigan's frailties.
4. Why does Marie resist her mother's attempts to urge her to adulthood, from how to read a recipe to the importance of finding a job?
5. How is Marie able to look past the tragic death of Mrs. Hanson and focus on the loveliness of Gerty and her baby sister, Durna? Throughout her life, what beauty does Marie find in mothering?
6. What is the role of fate versus free will in Someone? What did Gabe seek and find in religion? What truths about faith did he eventually learn to embrace?
7. What did Walter Hartnett ultimately get out of his time with Marie? Was she naïve to fall for him, or was he powerfully persuasive? What made Tom Commeford a good match for her?
8. What does Marie discover about life by working for Mr. Fagin?
9. Discuss the story of Margaret Tuohy. How was Marie affected by the bishop's choice of elegant burial clothes for his sister? What did the experience show Marie about the role of the survivor?
10. As Gabe tells the story of the woman at his first parish who bought mints before attending church each week, what is revealed about the importance of avoiding assumptions? How do perceptions and misperceptions shape the novel's storyline?
11. What is the effect of the novel's first-person narration? As Marie narrates her life, what changes do you notice in her view of the world—literal ones, as she endures eye surgeries, and symbolic ones?
12. Discuss Marie's relationship with her own children. What does she do differently from her parents? What traditions does she carry on? How does McDermott capture the revelations that life and loss bring?
13. How does the depiction of Irish identity and family life in Someone compare to that in similar worlds you've explored in other novels by Alice McDermott?

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