Before I start the discussion, I wanted to share a few thoughts on this book. I'll admit that it was a little more of a downer than I was expecting, but in the end I felt very uplifted.
Here is why it was a downer at first - Hanna endured many of life's cruelest experience - rape, ostracized by her community, abuse, etc.. When teenage Ragnar turned on her, I was so depressed. All I could think of was "Great - that's what Soren is going to do to me someday." The daugher and granddaugher also had a pretty rough time - neither of them really finding happiness or the love they wanted. However, I think to tell someone's life story you need to include the tragedy's and disapointments that define them.
Why it was uplifting in the end - In the end, this story has left me thinking more about what I've inherited from the women who paved my way. Examining the complex relationships between Hanna's family makes me more aware of relationships in my own family. Not all of it was rosy for Hanna and her daughters, and neither is it all rosy for me.
Discussion Questions:1. Which woman's life did you enjoy reading the most and why?Johanna's life story was my favorite because you got to know her the most. Hanna's story was told in third-person, so it was hard to get inside her head. Anna's story revolved so much around Rickard, that I don't feel you found out much more about her than her marriage, her mother's opinon of her, and her opinion of her family. Also, Hanna's husband's love and preference for Johanna set her up to be a favorite. I wanted to see how this favorite child would break out of her mother's world and succeed.
2. Hanna's Daughters examines the changing roles of women in a country that quickly moved from a primitive farming society, to an industrial society and then an information-based society. How do you think theses changes in society make you different from your mother/grandmother/or earlier female ancestors?I do think that I have more time and freedom to worry about finding happiness and love than my grandmother and great-grandmother did. They had to work so hard just to survive and that was what they expected. I think all the new technologies have made my home life a little easier - I buy my bread instead of baking, I don't have to milk cows or worry about a shortage of hay or for my livestock, etc.. Although, I'm not sure there is that much of a difference between my mother and I in terms of society changes. Yes, technology is different but not drastic enough to change my way of life from hers.
3. One point I love, is that the author wanted to point out that even though today's women have so many more opportunities to "succeed," we still choose to marry and raise children. She refers to this as our Social Inheritance. What do you think of that type of inheritance?In the book, I think the family jewels symbolized this. The care of family stories and heritage passed down from daughter to daughter. In my family, we don't have family jewels that mothers pass on, but we do have the stories and the resolve to love and nurture children. I think there could be no greater inheritance than a love for family and passing that on.
4. Share one of your own questions or opinion on the book.
