Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramirez

Book Club Discussion Questions

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What do you know about telenovelas or soap operas? Have you ever watched one? What common traits and themes of this style of show do you see reflected in the plot of Tell It to Me Singing?
2. After finding out she's pregnant with Robert's baby, Mónica starts to evaluate her feelings for Robert. She wonders if there's a difference between loving someone and being in love with them. Do you think there's a difference? Explain your thinking.
3. Mónica's mother is about to head into major surgery and suddenly confesses that she has been lying about her daughter's parentage for her entire life. Has a family member ever dropped life-altering information like this on you? How did you process the information? What emotions came with the situation?
4. Describe the complex feelings Mirta must have had while carrying out her affair with Juan, finding out she was pregnant with his baby while married to Rolando, and choosing to keep Mónica's parentage a secret for twenty-nine years. Try to get into her head and describe what you think her thought process was when making each of those decisions.
5. Why might Mirta be okay with never telling Juan he had a child, even if it brought her extreme guilt? What did it cost her to obey Rolando's wishes? What did she gain by keeping the secret?
6. Mirta laments that Rolando has never said he has forgiven her for her affair, only that he has accepted it. She states that "acceptance and forgiveness are not the same thing ... but sometimes they are close enough" (90). What does she mean by this? Do you agree with her statement?
7. How do instances like Mirta's dropping Mónica underwater as an infant, and the guilt that consumes her after, and the incident at the park speak to the experience of mental health during the postpartum period? How is this exacerbated for Mirta, given her situation when Mónica is a newborn?
8. Why do you think it's easier for Mónica to go straight to Manny after finding out the whole story of her parentage from Mirta while Robert is out of town? What about the secret she's just learned might have caused her to kiss Manny?
9. Learning that Juan is still alive, Mirta becomes determined to find him and tell him that he has a daughter. This upsets Mónica, who angrily tells her mom that it's her life, too, and she deserves to be part of these decisions, though this might be a "foreign concept" (262) to her mother. Can you think of a time when you felt like Mónica, when a family member or someone close to you wanted to make a big decision for you? Can you think of a time when you felt like Mirta, when you just wanted to do what you thought was right after feeling like you'd made a mistake?
10. Mirta flees by herself to Costa Rica in the hope of tracking down Juan, only to be met with serious danger. Do you think she would have made such a bold decision had she not been recovering both physically and mentally from major surgery? Would she have made the same decision if Juan was still a secret to Mónica? Why or why not?
11. Mónica tells Robert that her decision to end things with him has nothing to do with Manny, but might it have something to do with Mirta? Could knowing what her mother went through with her own true love have prompted her in some way to choose a different path? What would you have done if you were in Mónica's position, and would it be an easy decision?
12. After all is said and done, how is it that Mónica is able to forgive Mirta for everything that has happened? How have you been able to forgive a close family member for things they may have done in the past or even in the present? Where does that forgiveness come from?
13. What parallels can you draw between the two major love triangles? In what way do Mónica, Manny, and Robert resemble Mirta, Juan, and Rolando?
14. How do you think the story was enhanced by the chapters containing Mirta's thoughts and backstory? How would your understanding of the story have been different if it was told only from Mónica's perspective?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.