You Should Pity Us Instead Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Etc. But First, They Have to Stand in Line and our BookBrowse Review of You Should Pity Us Instead.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. At the end of "All the Sons of Cain" R's mother sees men praying on the beach. She hopes "her boy is among them." Is this her son? Or the boy she has been staying with in Gaza? Do you feel it could possibly be both? Why or why not?
2. What is the significance of the fact that R's mother adopted him after an earthquake in "old Byzantium" (modern day Istanbul, Turkey, formerly called Constantinople) left him unidentified and homeless?
3. In "Unattended" what do you make of the ending? How is this memory "saving Joanne's life" today? " As Joanne jogged up the sidewalk, turning her back on those other, motherless children, pain spiked again, this time in her right ear, and the world fell away. All except her mother's face, where she is sure she saw relief, which today, even more than then, saves her life."

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