Hachette Livre

Hachette Reading Group Guides

Welcome to our Reading Group guide for The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt. We invite you to consider and discuss the following questions when reading this book:

  1. What are the ‘sorrows’ in this book? Who do they belong to? Are they personal, universal or specifically American ones?
  2. ‘There is no clear border between remembering and imagining. When I listen to a patient, I am not reconstructing the ‘facts’ of a case history but listening for patterns, strains of feeling, and associations that may move us out of painful repetitions and into an articulated understanding’ (p.86). What do you make of Erik’s attempt to make sense of the world for himself and his patients? How does it compare to Lars’s efforts to ‘order his world’ (p.184) and to Siri Hustvedt’s ordering of this novel?
  3. ‘Even the dearest that I love the best Are strange – nay, stranger than the rest’ (p.142) What is the relevance of this John Clare poem in the book? Why does it resonate with Erik? What does The Sorrows of an American have to say about personal relationships?
  4. Did you detect any literary references or in-jokes in the book, its title and characters? If so what are their significance, do you think?
  5. What happens to Erik over the course of the novel? Does he change? Does he learn anything about himself?
  6. In her acknowledgments, Siri Hustvedt reveals that many of the passages from Lars Davidsen’s memoir were actually written by her own father and that she has ‘freely mingled imaginary stories with real ones’ throughout the novel. Did you identify any other autobiographical elements in the book? What did they bring to the story, if anything?
  7. ‘I think we all have ghosts inside us, and it’s better when they speak than when they don’t’ (p.1). Who are the ghosts to whom Erik refers? Why does he think it’s better that they ‘speak’? What happens if they don’t?
  8. In his Washington Post review Ron Charles described The Sorrows of an American as ‘a radically postmodern novel that wears its po-mo credentials with unusual grace’. Did you identify any postmodern traits in the book? If so, what were they, and what do you think they contributed to the story?
  9. This is the second time that Siri Hustvedt has written from the perspective of a male narrator. Is she successful, do you think?
  10. A key feature of postmodernism is that it seeks to replace ‘grand narratives’ such as Marxism, Christianity or any cohesive single framework of ideology or world-view with ‘little narratives’. ‘Little narratives’ present local or individual explanations of events or phenomena but make no claim to explain everything: they are fragmentary, contingent and relative, and there is no ‘world-view’ to speak of. How might this idea shed light on The Sorrows of an American? Is there a ‘grand narrative’ underlying the book? How does Inga’s criticism of the media’s ‘almost instantaneous construction of a heroic narrative to gloss the horror’ of September 11th (p.48) compare to the characters’ personal experience of it? Where else in the book do ‘grand narratives’ and ‘little narratives’ collide?
  11. What role does death play in The Sorrows of an American? What power do the dead have over the living?
  12. Why is Erik so captivated by Miranda and her paintings? Were you surprised by Erik’s relationships with the women in his life?
  13. Is The Sorrows of an American a psychological thriller? How might it conform to and subvert the rules of the genre?
  14. ‘A building came to mind. No, I was inventing it … I’m so tired, I thought, and began to lose track of the story’ (p.170). Erik attempts to unravel his father’s story with psychoanalysis and with strict attempts at objectivity. Is he a good or reliable narrator? Are we to accept his analysis of situations and people without question? How does his way of looking at the world affect the shape and feel of the book?
  15. The Sorrows of an American spans five generations and many ‘big’ themes, yet it is a relatively slim volume. Would you describe it as an epic novel?
  16. ‘Trauma doesn’t appear in words, but in a roar of terror, sometimes with images. Words create the anatomy of a story, but within that story there are openings that can’t be closed’ (p.85). What does The Sorrows of an American have to say about language? How else do the characters express themselves if words fail?
  17. Would you say this is a nostalgic book? Why [not]?
  18. ‘Secrets can define people’ (p.201). What does Inga mean by this? Who in the novel is defined by secrets, and what effect does this have on their identity? Are secrets always damaging? Are there any examples of healthy or justified secrets in the novel?
  19. What did you make of the book’s final sequence? Did it shed any light on Hustvedt’s themes and parallel connections? What were the main ones you identified?
  20. Were you satisfied with the book’s revelations? Did it teach you something about your expectations of the story and the nature of secrets?

Current Reading Group Titles

  1. The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton

  2. Lies by Enrique de Heriz

  3. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner

  4. Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt

  5. Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

  6. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

  7. The Sisterhood by Emily Barr
  8. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  9. The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
  10. The Return by Victoria Hislop
  11. A Small Part of History by Peggy Elliott
  12. A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
  13. Scapegallows by Carol Birch
  14. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
  15. Radiance by Shaena Lambert
  16. Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
  17. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
  18. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
  19. The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
  20. Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
  21. How To Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper
  22. Still Waters by Camilla Noli
  23. Wives of the East Wind by Liu Hong
  24. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
  25. The Keep by Jennifer Egan
  26. The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther
  27. Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
  28. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
  29. April in Paris by Michael Wallner
  30. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
  31. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
  32. Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
  33. Red River by Lalita Tademy
  34. The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
  35. Rosetta by Barbara Ewing
  36. The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin
  37. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
  38. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell

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