An Unrestored Woman Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, India's Partition and Its Lingering Effects and our BookBrowse Review of An Unrestored Woman.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. In her prefatory author's note, Shobha Rao writes, "Though the commonly used term for these women is recovered women, I have chosen to refer to them as restored. The distinction may seem trivial, but it is necessary, forI believe that while the recovery of a person is possible, the restoration of a human being to her original state is not." Discuss the implications of this distinction in Rao's collection. How does the phrase "an unrestored woman" resonate throughout these stories?
2. The epigraph is a quote from Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient: "All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps." Do all of Rao's characters share this desire? What power do maps hold in this collection? How do the consequences of the Partition of India and Pakistan shape each of the stories?
3. An Unrestored Woman comprises story couplets: in story B, a minor character from story A comes to the fore; in story D, a minor character from story C comes to the fore. Why do you think Rao chose to do this? How does the effect of this narrative structure differ from that of a traditional story collection or from a novel?

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