Here are some things that you may want to look at:

*There are very few characters that actually have names in the story.  Who are the characters that are named?  Where do they come from?  What do they look like?

*The girl leaves to go back to France.  As she’s leaving, is the lover watching her go?  If so, where is he?  Is she watching him?  From where?

*The girl and the lover are doomed from the beginning, and she eventually has to leave him.  Do they ever speak or see each other again after their affair ends?  When?  Where?

*The girl ends up “worn out with desire” for someone in the novel.  How so?

*How long does the affair last between the girl and the lover?

*The girl has unusual taste in clothing.  List some of the things that she wears that some consider strange or unusual.  What is she wearing when she meets the Lover?

*What do “kisses on the body bring”?  Who thinks this?

*What mode of transportation does the Lover and the girl use?

*Eventually the Lover meets the girl’s family.  Where do these meetings often take place?  Where did they begin?

*“You do know it’s all over, don’t you?  That you’ll never be able, now, to get married here in the colony.”  Who says this?  Why?

*After the girl leaves the Lover, how long is it before she can go near another man?

*Where does the girl’s family come from?  How about the Lover’s?

*The mother is, to say the least, one of the more eccentric characters in the story.  She has a tendency to become fixated on things, like certain types of photographs. Why might this be?

*The relationship the girl has with her family is strained, at the very least.  There are many secrets in the novel that are never explained.  The girl’s mother seems to feel differently about each of her children.  How does she feel about each one?  What special names or things might she refer to each of them as?

*Duras mentions a few dates in the novel.  List some of the dates or years that are mentioned and what happens when.

*There is almost no representation of spoken dialogue in this novel.  However, important things are still said.  What are some of the things that the girl and the Lover say to each other?  Pay special attention to their first encounter.