| "Open House", by Elizabeth Berg |
| Discussion Questions |
| 1. On the morning that Sam acknowledges that she will be getting a divorce, she begins to act like "the new me" (5). Of course, the divorce will change Sam, but how does this "new me" of the first morning differ from the woman she will eventually become? |
| 2. In a difficult conversation about their separate lives, Sam wants to warn David. "Doesn't he understand," she wonders, "that if he doesn't stop this, it will be too late?" (130). In this very moment, however, Sam mourns that it "is too late" (130). When does Sam realize that it is "too late" for her to save her marriage? When did you realize this? |
| 3. During a particularly lonely evening, Sam enters Lydia's room in an attempt to "wrap" herself "in the comfort of someone else's life" (82). Is this possible? How does it happen? |
| 4. Sam insists that her decision to get divorced is marked both by moments that are "awful" and moments that are "ecstatic" (53). Which moments predominate? Do you feel that Sam made the right decision? |