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1. The author starts telling the story with the last generation of the Alter family and only later focuses more on the earlier generation. Does this approach make sense for readers? Do you think the flashback with help us understand Lily, Delph and Veronica?

2. Some of you have already mentioned that the ladies of the Alter family can be described as 'neurotic'. Why are they neurotic? Is it a part of the family emotional 'heritage'?

3. Judith Mitchell also tackles some of the most vital existential topics that are mostly about non-existence, namely suicide and death cause by cancer. Do you find her approach light-hearted? Does it agree with your personal philosophy, and if no, does this understanding of life and its value enhance or hinder our perception of the novel. To be brief, does the sisters' outlook on the suicide complicate the perception of the novel?

4. A non-religious family uses a religious quote to instill life with the sense of direction and logic. Do you find it ironic?

These are just discussion hors d'oeuvres. Feel free to disregard the questions and post freely what your thoughts are.

Linda wrote: "I liked the history parts about the grandparents best, followed by Delph's story, even though I think she wimped out. Vee I felt sorry for; Lady, well she was perhaps the strangest."

I liked the structure of the book, starting in the present, then doing flashbacks. The flashbacks start at one point in the past and then move forward, so that they make up a second story told in parallel to the sisters stories. I've read the whole book, and I don't know where Chapter 5 ends. But the three sisters' stories are told one after the other, which means even the modern day part of the book is told as sequential stories that overlap in time. I thought the author did a masterful job of structuring the novel and interlacing the stories.

Why are the sisters neurotic? The whole family seems to have high anxiety levels, so it looks like there is a predisposition to anxiety in their genes. Then there is the family history. Look at the conditions under which they grew up. Children who have a mentally ill parent, or lose a parent while the child is still young, have a much higher incidence of depression or other mental illness as adults.

As for irony, the book is loaded with it, though that topic is more easily discussed in a discussion of the entire book.

I also finished the book and have not a clue how to limit to the first five chapters, although I do believe that it covers Lady's attempt to hang herself. If not, I guess I'm in trouble!

I think it might be interesting to compare and contrast what seems to have lead each sister to the suicide decision. The book starts with Lady, who, to me, seems to be the one who is most pre-dispossed to suicide, i.e., the most depressed.

It seems like some readers have already finished the book. I will be posting other threads later today to discuss the whole book.

Linda wrote: "I also finished the book and have not a clue how to limit to the first five chapters, although I do believe that it covers Lady's attempt to hang herself. If not, I guess I'm in trouble! ..."

Yes it does. You are safe! :-)

I agree it will be interesting to find out the motives of each suicide.

In answer to Question 4, perhaps I'm being simplistic but don't we all borrow sayings from other cultures/religions? And the "sins of the fathers," -- I have seen that in my own extended family and we're neither Jewish nor agnostic. I think the quote is an excellent frame, or more correctly, as Delph's tattoo, a snake that curls around the body of the family.

Portia wrote: "In answer to Question 4, perhaps I'm being simplistic but don't we all borrow sayings from other cultures/religions? And the "sins of the fathers," -- I have seen that in my own extended family an..."

Here is a fairly reasonable commentary on Biblical passages regarding "sins of the fathers":



Scholars debate the dating of Exodus, with as early as the 15th century BC and and as late as the 13th. I suspect similar passages regarding familial/tribal accountability exist in other early, early texts, both secular and religious.

Lily, thanks for the link. It's a wonderful example of Talmudic debate.

I find the sisters neurotic to some extent but they can be surprisingly at ease at times. Perhaps ease isn't the right word - more like a sense of acceptance for their conditions and end goal (which they claim is inevitable). When Lady accidentally travels up in the elevator instead of down (where she plans to hang herself), she finds Vee and Delph blasting music and making sandwiches. Vee and Delph don't find it weird that Lady has stopped by at an odd hour of the night and Lady doesn't seem too surprised that they are awake.

I'm liking the book more than I thought I would. There is more humorous than I expected, though the humor is fairly dark.

I love the role that objects play in bringing other characters into the story. For example, I believe there's a chair that sits in their apartment that I think is also present in a portrait. The portrait and chair point us to Lenz's story.

Unusual for me, I seem to be reading this story in one chapter increments. One, I commented on earlier, as drawing me into the book. Two, seemed an introduction to a rather bohemian and tawdry period in Lady's life. Wasn't sure the story was going to be interesting enough to hold me. Three, jumped back in time to provide the back-story of the family. Introduced the obligatory gay character. Set up questions that propelled forward willingness to continue to read.

Am I correct that you find this book too obviously formulaic?

Portia wrote: "Am I correct that you find this book too obviously formulaic?"

I am not knowledgeable enough on what makes a book "formulaic" to answer that question, if it is to me you are addressing it, Portia. I am saying that the introduction of gay characters seems as de rigueur in novels of this decade as disabled characters were a few years ago (especially during the period when efforts were greatest to get building codes changed). As did Dickens, current novelists often try to make us aware of conditions in the world around us.