Discussion Questions 1. How does it affect your reading of the novel that the narrator's name is the same as the author's? Do you imagine them to be the same person? 2. "A child needs the happy family," Elena tells Mischa (pg. 23) in an attempt to describe why Martiya's life turned out as it did. "It is the base." Do you see a connection between Martiya's parents' marriage, the atmosphere in which she was raised, and her desire to immerse herself in the life of the Dyalo, or any of her other decisions as an adult? 3. How does it change the story to hear so much of Martiya's story from other characters? Do those who tell Mischa about Martiya--Tim Blair, for example, or Josh O' Connor--seem reliable to you? Why do you think the author chose to include them in the story, rather than just telling Martiya's story entirely from Mischa's perspective? 4. What was your opinion of the Walkers and their work among the Dyalo? Do you think they were helping the Dyalo, or interfering with their native culture? Did the book change your opinion of Christian missionary work, or your opinion of anthropology? 5.
What do you think happens in David's mind at the moment he decides to return to his religious practice (pg. 170)? Do you think there is a connection between David's devotion to the Grateful Dead and his passion for Christianity and the mission? 6. What's your impression of Mischa, the narrator? Why do you think he becomes so obsessed with Martiya's story? How does his pursuit of the story change Mischa's own life and way of thinking over the course of the book? 7. Do you see any similarities between Mischa's relationship with Rachel, their life together in Thailand, and Martiya's relationship to the Dyalo and their village? 8. Why do you think the author includes the interlude about the anthropologist Malinowski? What does that story suggest to you about the difficulties and rewards of anthropology? 9. Do you see Martiya's conversion to a belief in Rice, her investment in the mystical elements of Dyalo life, as a conversion, a rational decision, or a departure from sanity? Do you think she went crazy, or just went native? 10. How do you interpret the book's epigraph? How do you think a belief in spirits like those the Dyalo fear differs from a belief in an all-powerful god? 11. Does the book suggest that there are any similarities between anthropology and missionary work? Do you think one or the other is more intrusive, or more beneficial? Which would you rather do, if you had to choose? 12.
To what extent do you think David and Martiya were products of their upbringing? If each had been born into the other's family, do you think they would've followed more or less the same paths?.