The Sisters

How does the novel’s structure, which accelerates from covering years to a single minute, shape the reader’s understanding of time and its relation to memory? What distortions does Khemiri apply to manipulate the stated time frame of each book?

Given that The Sisters is Khemiri’s first novel written in English, how does his linguistic choice inform the book’s exploration of immigrant identity?

How do Ina’s need for control and Evelyn’s compulsion for flight function as opposing, yet equally self-defeating, responses to their shared upbringing?

Comment on Khemiri’s use of autofiction in this novel to explore the philosophical implications of the boundary between truth and fiction. How does it deepen the story for Khemiri to insert himself as a character?

Discuss the novel’s depiction of Sweden’s historical social housing policy. What are the challenges that define the immigrant characters’ attempts to settle in their adopted country? Compare and contrast them with depictions of other immigrant communities in other novels.

Does the final revelation that the curse was never real liberate the characters, or does it retroactively diminish the meaning of their lifelong struggles? Why or why not?

How do the novel’s various family myths function as metaphors for the larger social and cultural myths that drive national identity?

How do the contrasting settings of Stockholm, Tunis, and New York function as spaces that either constrain or liberate the characters’ evolving identities?