The Burgess Boys

How do the characters Helen, Susan, and Barabara present different models of motherhood? How do their approaches to motherhood contrast, and what do these differences reveal about social expectations around this role?

What does the novel suggest about the importance of fathers? What parallels exist between the characters regarding the impact that their own fathers (or lack thereof) have had on their lives?

The novel is written in multiple, close third-person point of view, switching between the perspectives of various characters. One of the main characters, Jim, is not chosen as a perspective character. How does not hearing Jim’s perspective impact the novel’s conflict?

What role does Margaret Estaver play in the novel? How does she aid both the Burgess family and the Somali community? How does she act as a moderator between groups in conflict?

Characters who have married into the Burgess family—such as Helen and Pam—provide valuable outsider perspectives. What do these women reveal about the Burgess family that the Burgesses themselves are too close to see? Do both women share the same assessment of the family? Why or why not?

Toward the end of the novel, Abdikarim’s niece Haweeya says, “In America, it is about the individual. Self-realization. Go to the grocery store, the doctor’s office, open any magazine, and it is self, self, self. But in my culture it is about community and family” (283). What does she mean? How do the dynamics of family in the Somali community differ from that of the Burgesses? What could the Burgesses learn from the Somalis?

Compare and contrast the novel’s two settings of Shirley Falls, Maine, and Manhattan, New York. How does each setting impact or shape specific main characters?

How has the influx of Somali refugees impacted the town’s understanding of itself? How does it present opportunities for growth, both economic and cultural, and why do some townspeople view the new arrivals with suspicion or hostility?