1. What is the role of history in this novel? Is there a character whose version of the story you trust more than another character’s?

2. Describe your understanding of Trevor and Josianne’s relationship and the ways in which it changes from the beginning of the novel to the end.

3. Is the third-person narration still in Trevor’s voice? If not, who is he channeling?

4. What is the purpose of the scanned objects? What do they add to the story?

5. Do the scanned objects tell a story of their own that is different from the text of the novel?

6. What is the role of desire --- sexual and otherwise --- in this novel? What are its consequences?

7. Describe Louise’s relationship with her father and how you think it does or does not shape her relationships with Camille and Xavier.

8. What does the novel say about memory? Can there be such a thing as an objective account of the past?

9. Why does the author use footnotes in the novel? How do you make sense of the fragmenting of the text that occurs on pages 246–47, for example?

10. Broadly speaking, how does the war change the way men and women think of each other in this novel?