Book Club Discussion Guide

A Delicate Marriage

WARNING! Questions contain plot spoilers!

Question One:
In the early days, Marco and Isa have specific goals for their future. How do these goals shift over time as the characters change and/or grow? What outside forces affect these changes?

Question Two:
As a young woman, Isa’s need for adoration leads her to seek a career as an actress. What need is Isa trying to fill? Isa does find fulfillment in several ways. Can you mention some moments of fulfillment? Which one do you think was the most meaningful to her?

Question Three:
Isa fakes a hunger strike to coerce her father into accepting her relationship with Marco. Did you ever concoct an elaborate story to get your way with your parents?

Question Four:
At the beginning of his courtship with Isa, Marco shows a group of children from the slums how to fly his homemade kite. Fast forward to Marco teaching his son how to fly a store-bought kite and ignoring a poor child who is interested in his kite-flying lesson. Can you explain this change in Marco? How does it affect Isa?

Question Five:
Once Marco meets his initial goals, what drives his need to achieve more and more? 

Question Six:
When Isa delivers her second child, she is told her uterus had to be removed to stop the hemorrhaging she was experiencing. However, the doctor “exchanged a look with Marco” before sharing this information with Isa. Given the previous stance Marco had taken on two being the ideal number of children, and the lack of control women have historically experienced over their bodily autonomy, did it cross your mind that Marco may have influenced the doctor’s decision? Do you think he would be capable of that level of deception toward his wife?

Question Seven:
The characters in A Delicate Marriage are deeply human and often make questionable decisions. Whose choices surprised you the most? Could you understand the reasons why the characters acted as they did?

Question Eight:

Isa betrays Marco by having an affair, but Marco also betrays his wife by eschewing the values they once shared and lying about his complicity in the declining conditions of his buildings. Do you see these betrayals as comparable, even though only one was romantic in nature? Why or why not?

Question Nine:

Did Isa’s infidelity surprise you? How does Isa rationalize her actions, given the hurt her own father’s infidelity caused her family?

Question Ten:

What do you think of Marco's eventual acceptance of Isa's infidelity? Do you think that because “no one really knew about it”, he was more inclined to save his marriage?

Question Eleven:

Puerto Rico attained a financial boom in the era of Gov. Muñoz Marín. Since then, repeated errors has landed the island in a severe economic crisis. How do you see Puerto Rico's relationship to the U.S. now and in the future? Do you think Puerto Rico should become a state, an independent country, or remain a colony? How do you think you would have leaned politically if you were living in Puerto Rico during the time of the novel? 

Question Twelve:

How much of the Puerto Rican history detailed in A Delicate Marriage were you aware of before reading this book? Were you surprised by what you learned?

Question Thirteen:

In the Epilogue, we get a glimpse of the effects of 2017’s Hurricane Maria on the island. What do you remember thinking about the U.S. government’s response at the time? Has this novel affected the way you perceive the U.S. response?

Question Fourteen:

If you were to travel to Puerto Rico, which of the settings in the book would you visit? What foods would you want to try?