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Discussion Guide

In the Distance

A young Swedish immigrant finds himself penniless and alone in California. The boy travels east in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great current of emigrants pushing west. Driven back again and again, he meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, swindlers, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend. Diaz defies the conventions of historical fiction and genre, offering a probing look at the stereotypes that populate our past and a portrait of radical foreignness.

Book club questions for In the Distance by Hernan Diaz

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you did not speak the same language as the people around you and you had no one to interpret for you? How did your experience affect how you thought about Haken?

Haken is described as being extremely large and continuing to grow. How do you think that affected the way people perceived him? Did his size call to mind any other characters from books or film? Jack Reacher?

In what ways do you think Hakan might be considered a Christ-like figure?

Which of the characters Haken meets did you find particularly memorable?

Did you find Haken’s experiences plausible? Which ones required the most suspension of disbelief?

Haken made a colossal error getting on a boat bound for California instead of one for New York. Have you ever gotten on a boat/plane/train/bus headed to a very different place than the one you intended?

Haken suffers from PTSD after the attack on the wagon train. How did violence change him? One of his responses is to drug himself with a tincture he got from Lorimer—probably a mixture of opium and alcohol known as laudanum. What impact do you think that had on his recovery?

In the Distance is in one sense a coming of age story—Haken grows up from a smooth-faced youth reliant on his older brother to a fully-grown bearded man capable of forging his own way in the wilderness. If he and his brother had gotten on the boat to New York together, how do you think the story would have turned out?

The scientist Lorimer takes Linus’ place as Haken’s teacher as he learns about botany and biology,  medicine, disinfectants, evolution and philosophy. Haken adopts some of his ideas, particularly about surgery and healing, but remains skeptical about others, such evolution or seeing humans and animals as essentially the same. What does this tell us about Haken?

Early western books and movies often presented a romanticized, idealized vision of the west. In the Distance strives to present the opposite. How well did Diaz succeed in that effort?

The book has been described as both a dreamscape and a living nightmare. Which description did you think was more accurate? Why?

When Hakan is living in the bunker, Diaz says “the business of being took up all of his time.” What did you think of the way Diaz described Hakan’s life. Have you ever felt that way?

Hernan Diaz had never been out west and chose not to go when he was writing this novel. He didn’t want his experience of traveling the modern day west to influence the way he wrote Haken’s story. How might it have made a difference?

The book is told in a series of episodes based on Haken’s encounters as he travels east. There isn’t a lot of dialog, especially early on since Haken spoke very little English. And there are places where he repeats passages a few pages apart. What did you think of the way Diaz chose to tell Haken’s story?

Haken never finds his brother. How did you feel about that? Would you have written a different ending?

How do you think Hakan will fare trying to cross Siberia to get home to Sweden? Will he make it?

In the Distance Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the In the Distance discussion questions