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READING GUIDE
Discussion
questions
1. Perhaps the
most pivotal moment of this novel occurs at the beginning when
Kokila decides to leave her marriage and stay at Tella Meda. Did you
agree with her decision? Would you have made the same choice at her
age in her situation? Would you make the same choice knowing how her
life turned out?
2. Do you feel Kokila was satisfied with her life and at the
end of the novel felt she had lived a productive and worthwhile
life? Do you feel she lived a productive and worthwhile life?
3. In Song of the Cuckoo Bird, the women of Tella Meda
frequently discuss their need for a husband and children, and the
placement those things will guarantee them in society. How important
is marriage and having a family to a woman’s identity today where
you live? How much is it a part of your own identity?
4. Which of the women at Tella Meda did you identify the most
closely with? Did you have trouble connecting to any of the women
and if so why do you think you found her difficult to understand?
5. Both in the novel and in the conversation between Amulya
Malladi and her mother in this reader’s guide, there is much
discussion of whether Charvi is a good person, particularly in terms
of her acceptance of money. Did you feel she was a good person? What
inconsistencies of character did you spot in Charvi? Can a person be
both good and bad?
6. Are there any purely good or purely evil characters in
Song of the Cuckoo Bird?
7. How did you feel the men in Song of the Cuckoo Bird
were portrayed? Fairly or unfairly? Realistically or
unrealistically?
8. Did you find the news headlines at the start of each
chapter helpful or were they unimportant to your understanding of
the characters and setting?
9. Would Tella Meda be a good place to grow up, taking into
consideration whether it was located in your hometown or in India,
and at different time periods?
10. What do you think happened to Vidura?
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Kokila came to Tella Meda an orphan, a month after her marriage. She
had just turned eleven.
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