Questions:
Chapter 1
1.Why did people consider the Leong’s a failed family? What’s Leon’s attitude towards it?
2.What does this sentence mean -- ‘‘Leon’s life’s kind of made a circle’’?
3.Why were Leon and You Thin Toy “cousins”?
4.What did Ona’s jump bring to the family? Did they ever get to their old days? Explain your answer with some examples.
5.How was the relationship between Leila and Mason? Why was it so hard for Leila to tell Mah her marriage with Mason?
6.What can you tell about the character and condition of life of Leon and Mah from the writer’s description in Chapter One? Does the description appear as a foreshadowing of the story to you? If yes, what does it imply?
Chapter 2
7.Why did the two sisters go to an American restaurant for a reunion diner?
8.How was Nina different from her sister?
9.How did Nina feel about her voyage to China?
10.What is the writer’s intention of inserting the memory of the pigeon in this section? How do you interpret the repetition and emphasis of the “bones”?
Chapter 4
11.What caused the tension of Leila? Why?
12.What did Leon blamed himself for? Why did he take the cargo voyage to Cape Horn?
13.The death of Ona is not described in a direct way here.Why?What do you think is the effect of the writing?
Chapter 5
14.What did Leon collected in his suitcase? Why did Leila feel uncomfortable looking at these collections? What does “paper” mean to Leon?
Why did Leila want to ‘‘remember them all’’?
Chapter 12
15.How did the laundry come into being? Why was Leon eager to start such a business according to the text?
16.Why is the writing about the works at the laundry so detailed?What can you tell by these details?
17.How did Leon and Mah react after the bankruptcy of the business?What is the incident that broke the war between Leon and Ona?
18.What do you think are the reasons of Ona’s death?
Chapter 14
19.Why does the writer go back to the time before Ona’s death at the end of the novel? What does she intend to tell?
20.How do you understand that ‘‘The heart never travels’’ by the end of the story?