Other Mother

1. Choosing between being a stay-at-home or a working mother is an emotional decisionoften fraught with guilt, doubt, and regret. InThe Other MotherThea stays at home with her three children while new mom Amanda returns to work. Why do you think each of them made the decision she did?2. Did you identify more with Thea or Amanda? If you have children, have you continued to work outside the home? If you plan to have children in the future, will you stay at home or keep your job?3. "Disturbingly or threateningly different: alien, exotic" is among the definitions offered for the wordotherin Merriam-Webster's online dictionary. How does this definition apply toThe Other Mother? How are Thea and Amanda threatened by each other?4. Why does it matter to Thea if Amanda works? Why does it matter to Amanda that Thea stays home?5. Consider whatyou know about Thea and Amanda's mothers. How is Thea like her mother? Do you think she is happy with the similarities? Is Amanda like her mother? How do the parenting styles of the women who raised them affect the actions and choices Amanda and Thea make as mothers?6. What roles do Caius and Aaron play in the lives of their families? How are household and parenting responsibilities divided in each marriage? Do they seem even to you? How does the division affect Thea? Amanda?7. What roles do jealousy, judgment, and competition play in the events ofThe Other Mother?8. Did you, like Thea, believe that Amanda was leaving the dead animals on her front porch? Why do you think Thea suspected her? What did you think about the letter Caius sent to Amanda and Aaron at Thea's insistence? What did you think about the postcard Amanda sent to Thea? At the end of the novel Thea denies involvement with the letter and knowledge of the postcard. Why?9. There is an undercurrent of tension between Thea and Amanda almost from their first meeting. In light of that, why does Thea offer her home to Amanda and her family after the storm crushes their house? Why does she offer to babysit Malena when Amanda is at work? Why does Amanda accept?10. After a stressful day for both, Amanda and Thea kiss. Why? What, if anything, does it mean? Does this shared intimacy make their relationship better or worse?11. In addition to a son, Thea has a teenage daughter and a preschool-age daughter. How does she feel about each of her daughters? About her son? How does having one daughter who is outgrowing her need for mothering and one child who still needs constant mothering affect Thea?12. How does Carra's accident and Aaron's rescue change the trajectory of the story, and of the relationship between the women?13. How does Thea feel about the choices she's made in becoming a stay-at-home mom? Does she have regrets? Why is she insulted when Caius suggests she needs time for herself, though she agrees with him? What is Thea hoping to gain by going on an Outward Bound trip without her family? Does she get it?14. Amanda returns to work at the end of her maternity leave even though she has mixed emotions about it. How does motherhood affect her life? How is her professional life different? Does it return to normal the way she hopes it will? How is her marriage different?15. The novel culminates with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. How does this event affect Amanda and Thea? Caius and Aaron? How does this national tragedy end the war that has been going on between them?Gross, Gwendolen is the author of 'Other Mother ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780307352927 and ISBN 0307352927.