Miller, Sue: *1943

While I Was Gone, 1999 - Thematic Parallels: Hidden Choices

Hidden Choices refers to decisions, motives, or options that exist beneath the surface of the story—things that aren’t explicitly stated but influence the narrative, characters, or themes.
Miller, Sue: While I Was Gone, 1999
The book’s main topic is the tension between past and present identity—how hidden choices, buried secrets, and past relationships resurface and complicate the life someone has carefully built.
The following books are thematically simliar. They lend themselves well to being read in groups, compared with one another, or used to teach a similar topic over an extended period with a class:
- Chopin, Kate: The Awakening, 1899, ~200pp
  This novel focuses on a woman’s self-discovery and the repercussions of her choices, echoing themes of internal conflict and revelation.
  - Both works deal with women torn between domestic responsibilities and inner desires. They highlight how marriage, passion, memory, and identity conflict in women’s lives — and how society punishes or restricts those who try to break free.
- Henríquez, Cristina: The Book of Unknown Americans, 2014, ~280pp
  This is a novel with secretive elements and personal stories.
  - Both novels share deep concerns with identity, belonging, the inescapability of the past, and the fragile balance of family life under the shadow of tragedy.
- Morrison, Toni: The Bluest Eye, 1970, ~170pp
  This novel covers themes of identity, family struggles, and emotional complexity.
  - Both novels explore how personal identity is shaped by social pressures, family dynamics, and internalized expectations. Characters grapple with understanding themselves amid external influences. They emphasize how trauma, whether direct or inherited through family, shapes the characters’ actions, perceptions, and futures.
- Thomas, Angie: The Hate U Give, 2017, ~440pp
  This is a novel about social issues and hidden challenges.
  - Both novels explore how personal identity, trauma, and societal pressures intersect, and how the protagonists grow through confronting these challenges.
List of general discussion questions on Hidden Choices (pdf)
List of essay prompts on Hidden Choices (pdf)