Greg Baxter - Munich Airport

10. What drew you to write about the theme of hunger, which is so persistent in this novel? How do you understand Miriam’s desire to starve herself?

I don’t understand Miriam’s choice to starve to death any differently than the narrator understands it, which is to say I do not understand it at all. It’s really only possible, I think, to talk productively about the reasons for the narrator’s devotion to the mystery of the method of his sister’s death.

Do you have any close relatives who have settled abroad or moved far away? How has distance changed your relationship with them?

The first time the narrator meets Miriam’s neighbor Otis, he says, “At no time in history have human beings had less freedom, less happiness.” Why do you think he says this? Do you agree or disagree with him, and why?

What are the sources of unhappiness in the narrator’s life? Is there a difference between grief and unhappiness? Do you see such a distinction in the narrator’s life?

The narrator’s father writes that “The historian of tragic events, especially […] must cultivate guilt, must find infinite ways to implicate himself in every injustice and atrocity that has ever transpired, and be unworthy of all the heroism and courage that has resisted injustice.” How does this way of thinking inform the narrative of MUNICH AIRPORT? In what ways does the narrator cultivate guilt?

Why does Miriam starve herself? Does the narrator have the same reasons for choosing to endure hunger?

The narrator and his father react to Miriam’s death by indulging — in food, alcohol, and luxurious accommodations. Miriam’s restraint and their indulgence serve psychological as well as physical functions. Do you tend toward excess or restriction in your own life? How are the two practices similar? How are they different?

Would you intervene if you were worried about a friend or relative’s health, or would you refrain from commenting on someone else’s personal choices?

How would you describe the relationship that Trish develops with the narrator’s father? How does she fit into the novel’s family dynamic?

The characters in MUNICH AIRPORT are separated by physical distance, but there is also an emotional distance between them. Do you think that physical separation led to their emotional disconnect, or did it happen the other way around?

Do you think the narrator changes during the course of the novel? Do you see his visit to Germany in the wake of his sister’s death as a traumatic or healing experience?

What future do you imagine for the narrator and his father?

The novel ends with a memory of the narrator rowing a boat on a lake in the mountains while the people onshore wave at him. Does this episode strike you as one of hopelessness or wonder — as affirming beauty or negating it?