Counterfeit

Discuss the way Winnie and Ava manipulate and subvert expectations and assumptions about Asian Americans as the “model minority.” What does the novel have to say about bias, prejudice, and misperceptions?

Explore the theme of family as it surfaces in the novel, not just the importance of or the pleasures of family but also the pressures and roles that families can impose. Your discussion may include Ava’s family in the US as well as in Hong Kong, and you might consider how Winnie’s family members in China and the US present variations on this theme.

Discuss how the novel portrays motherhood, noting Ava’s struggle as a mother and her memories of her own mother that impact her. In what ways does Ava’s maternal role contribute to or create conflict with Ava’s other ambitions for herself?

Analyze the role of technology in the novel, including cell phones and the internet, particularly the sales platforms Ava and Winnie use and the forums that lead to the detective discovering their fraud. Beyond a plot device, discuss if the technology use adds in some way to the larger theme of deception or fraud.

The novel concludes with the criminals getting away with their scam and celebrating a new fraud. Reflect on this as an illuminating resolution to the novel, as per themes of identity and counterfeiting. You can look back at the ethical discussions the book poses about working within unfair systems to discuss what message you think this conclusion conveys.

Examine the contrasts that are set up between the US and China as physical settings as well as cultural ideals and discuss what these add to the novel.

Analyze Ava’s relationship with the expectations put upon her and how it contributes to her conflicts within the novel. What do you see at stake in the question of Ava’s “true” or authentic self versus the image she presents for the detective?

Discuss the ways in which Ava’s character arc seems to map out an ideal experience, especially the experience of children of immigrant parents. Compare Ava’s version of the American dream to Winnie’s as illustrated at the end.