A Place for Us

The reader’s first impression of Amar at the wedding is that he’s a stranger in every sense. He’s disconnected from his family and the other guests, many of whom he hasn’t seen for years. However, there are other moments where he seems happy, maybe even at home. How sharply do these sentiments contrast, and how do they demonstrate Amar’s ongoing internal conflict with belonging?

Amar reflects that “home is home when Hadia is in it” (59). What does Amar mean by this statement, and what evidence supports it?

Parent-child relationships from generation to generation are a persistent theme throughout the novel. How do Layla and Rafiq’s relationships with their parents compare and contrast with their children’s relationships with each of them? What is similar; what is different?

Light is an important recurring symbol. Characters often look up at the stars, and sunlight is repeatedly described in relation to character movements. How does this dichotomy function in the text? What does it tell us about the dynamics between characters when it happens?

Layla finds Amar’s journals and other keepsakes when she comes across his letters and photographs from Amira. This is a moment of surprise for the reader as well as for Layla. What hints elsewhere in the text support and develop Amar’s so-called secret life, and why does he save so many more keepsakes than Hadia, who only saves a gum wrapper?

Huda is a fascinating figure in the sense that she is almost never in the spotlight like Hadia and Amar. She’s almost hidden, moving in and out of scenes at the fringes, never at the center of the action. How does this affect her overall role in the narrative and her family relationships?

The novel’s setting is often obscured, except in flashbacks to Layla and Rafiq’s younger days in Hyderabad. Why does Mirza portray the present, the time and place of the wedding, as almost suspended and nonspecific? Why are the flashbacks so detailed in contrast?

Emails, notes, letters, and secret phone calls haunt the narrative. Other communication-related imagery, like Hadia’s Styrofoam cups on a string and telephone lines in the distance, is also frequently described. What do these appearances and reprisals say about communication between characters?

Characters whose beliefs seem hardline and unyielding often later reveal that their internal opinions on religious doctrine aren’t as severe as they first appeared. When and how do these revelations occur? What do they reveal about the role of religion in parenting and social conventions?