Discussion questions for The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

1. Both Sudhir and Lakshmi seem to put Maggie on a pedestal.  Did you find Maggie a sympathetic character?
2. Did you find Lakshmi a sympathetic character?  What did you think about Lakshmi’s revelation of what happened at her wedding?  Did it change the way you saw her as a character?  Or were you expecting it, by the time she got to that part of the story?  Did she change from “victim” or did you start to view her as The Boston Globe‘s reviewer did, as “devious, cunning, immoral”?
3. Which character showed the most growth? Did Maggie show any growth at all?
4. Do you think Maggie and Sudhir got back together?  What did you think about the ending?
5. Summaries of this book always mention that Maggie recognizes that Lakshmi needs a friend rather than a therapist.  Is their relationship one of friendship?  Or is Maggie always Lakshmi’s therapist, even if she crosses the line in other ways?
6. Think about the way Umrigar writes Lakshmi’s voice and story and consider these contrasting opinions.  Which do you agree with more?  Did you experience this book as an audiobook?  Did hearing Lakshmi’s voice instead of reading it affect your view?
   1. The reviewer for Washington Independent Review of Books says that: “[Laskshi] thinks and she and her husband converse in fractured English when a better choice would be a translated version of their more fluid Hindi…  I was not only annoyed by slogging through the heavy dialect, I was irate that she was being demeaned by not being allowed to speak as the educated and intelligent woman she was.”
   2. Booklist‘s reviewer says that: “Lakshmi’s tale of being a lonely immigrant trapped in a loveless marriage gains added poignancy for being told in her imperfect English.”

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