Sea Change Reader’s Guide

Name: Sea Change
Price: 17.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Gina Chung
ISBN: 9780593469347

Sea Change Reader’s Guide

READERS GUIDE

Vintage Reading Group Guide
Sea Change
A Novel
By Gina Chung

Introduction
Hailed for its tenderness and originality, Sea Change is a moving tale of self-discovery starring an oversize octopus named Dolores and her devoted caretaker, Ro, whose father disappeared while doing research in the polluted waters where Dolores was born.

Ro spends her days working at a financially strapped mall aquarium when she receives word that Dolores is slated to be sold to a rich investor for his private collection. Still reeling from a breakup with her boyfriend (who is on an expedition to Mars), Ro grapples with her lifetime of continual losses. Along the way, she comes to terms with her fractured family, including her strained relationship with her mother, while watching her childhood friend launch into adulthood with a fruitful career and an engagement ring.

Exploring the quest for healing and solace on our sometimes-lonely planet, Sea Change raises insightful questions about what it means to find fulfillment in life. We hope this guide will enhance your book club’s experience of Gina Chung’s luminous debut novel.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. What does Dolores have in common with Ro and with you? What does Sea Change show us about confinement and freedom, isolation and companionship, and the process of discovering our true nature?

2. Tae is highly organized and emphasizes solving problems, while Ro admits to feeling stuck. How do these differences both sustain and undermine their relationship? Would you be happy dating someone as ambitious as Tae?

3. How did your understanding of Umma and Apa’s marriage evolve over the course of the novel? What is at the heart of their bitter feuds? Is anyone to blame for the fractures in Ro’s family?

4. The author alternates between flashbacks written with past-tense verbs and current scenes written in the present tense. How does this oscillating timeline reflect the way our memories are woven into our current lives? Do Ro’s memories comfort or hinder her?

5. What ensures that Yoonhee and Ro’s friendship survives through so many phases of life? Discuss their bridesmaid dilemma. Have you ever been in a similar situation, where a close friend made a big ask that you were not able to fulfill?

6. The fictional Bering Vortex is the result of industrial toxins (including spills from profit-driven Alaskan refineries) accumulating in over-warmed oceans and giving rise to hyper-resilient creatures such as Dolores. At the same time, the aquarium is a sinking ship financially, dependent on wealthy investors like Phil for survival. How is this equation playing out in our real world? Will the current generation of wealth destroy the planet or save it?

7. From baking a cake to enduring encounters with the police, what life skills does Umma try to teach Ro? How are those lessons shaped by their identity as Asian American women?

8. Tae and Ro discuss the burden of high expectations from their immigrant parents. After becoming mired in self-sabotage, what does Ro eventually discover about living in the shadow of her parents’ choices? Why does Tae have such a different experience with his parents? How do Ro and her mother ultimately define “home”?

9. Ro and Apa bond over their love for the ocean, and she dedicates herself to caring for his beloved Dolores after he disappears. What does it take for Ro to experience a sea change and illuminate her own path after so many years tethered to her father’s legacy? What does her alcohol abuse indicate about the depths of her pain? How do Dolores and Ro both bear the effects of being born into toxic surroundings?

10. Rachel leaves her husband, Simon, after their fighting escalates, and he pushes her in front of Hailie. How does Ro react to her cousin’s strength and courage? How does Hailie’s experience as a child healing from trauma compare to Ro’s childhood?

11. Umma tells Ro that the women in their family have no luck with men. In the novel, do men have the upper hand, with greater power to pursue their dreams at all costs? Is Mr. Cho a sign of Umma’s emotional progress, or would she be better off single?

12. As you were reading the closing scene, what did you predict for Ro’s future?

13. Dolores has multiple hearts with varied functions, as well as enhanced nerve capacity in each arm and the ability to change her appearance instantly. If your body had these traits, how would you benefit? What would the downsides be?