This Little Family by Inès Bayard Questions for Discussion
1. What did you think of the opening of the novel? Were you shocked? How did the first chapter shape your expectations for how the story would unfold? 2. The novel includes a graphic and visceral depiction of sexual assault. How did you feel about the author’s handling of this subject matter? 3. What did you think of Laurent’s response, or lack thereof? Is it fair to say that he is in part to blame for not recognizing the shift in his wife, despite her silence about the assault? 4. Discuss class privilege as it is portrayed in the novel. How does Marie’s social status inform her response to trauma? 5. How do you interpret Marie’s interactions with Mathilde? Do you think Mathilde was also assaulted, or was this a projection of Marie’s mental state? Was Marie’s behavior towards Mathilde appropriate? What does their relationship say about competition between women in a patriarchal society? 6. Marie’s actions, born of her trauma, result in the most taboo form of violence—infanticide. How are different kinds of violence hierarchized in the novel? 7. How does the novel interrogate or challenge our assumptions about motherhood? 8. How does the novel interrogate or challenge our assumptions about fatherhood? What responsibility does Laurent have to his child and his family? Does he uphold them? 9. Discuss and compare the portrayals of marriage in the novel (Marie and Laurent; their friends Paul and Sophia; Marie’s coworker, Hervé, and Corinne; and her parents, Irene and Gerard). 10. Do you think Laurent survived? If so, how do you think he will overcome this trauma?