BYOW Book Club discussion

Do you sympathize more with Kathy Nicolo or with Colonel Behrani in part one of the novel? How does Dubus's use of alternating first-person narratives affect your response to, and involvement with, the characters?

I really sympathized more with Kathy in the first part. Although she had neglected to open the letters for the county, she had gone down and "taken care of" the necessary paperwork to get things resolved. How many of us have done the same. (Sometimes I throw away more unopened mail than I actually open) At the same time I understood where Behrani stood. He had paid for the house and it should be his, but given the situation, if I were in his position I would have been searching for a compromise.

I liked the alternating first person, I though that this was exactly why I could see both sides. It made you aware of, not just what the characters were doing, but also what they were thinking. It was a good choice on the author's part.

Again, maybe it's where I'm at in my own life that caused me to feel this way, but I sympathized more with Behrani. As an immigrant, he was working so hard to try to build a life for his family, and I felt like he was honest and hardworking. I felt sympathy for Kathy, but I also felt like she was more of a ghost than a human being in some ways . . .almost not really there, you know? It was hard for me to connect with her.