The Bridegroom

The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your group's reading of The Bridegroom, Ha Jin's latest collection of short fiction.

1. Evaluating the stories in The Bridegroom, one reviewer commented, "Laced with black humor, they refrain from entering fully into the human complexities of their characters: unjust power structures, rather than the individual experiences of his protagonists, are the focus of these tales" [Claire Messud, The New York Times Book Review]. How accurate is this observation? In which stories is human complexity most fully revealed?