Discuss how the protagonist changes over the course of the novel. Using incidents from the novel as your support, discuss how Aryana is both different from and connected to the girl she was, Sitara. You may also wish to consider what the meanings of the different names indicate about her changing identity: Sitara means star, while Ariana was once a name for Afghanistan.

Trace the theme of grief and how it functions within the novel. How is grief, especially over losing family members, connected with nostalgia for past ages and lost times? How is Aryana’s experience of grief similar to or different from Antonia’s, Shair’s, or Rostam’s?

Explore the protagonist’s relationship with Afghanistan. It is her homeland but also, when she returns, a country that she in part does not recognize. How does Afghanistan function as both setting and symbol?