Everything you need to understand or teach The Houseguest by Thomas Berger.
As in most of his novels, Thomas Berger's central theme in The Houseguest is the moral initiation of a sympathetic character. In this case, the central character is a woman (a nearly unprecedented event for Berger): Lydia, the daughterin-law of Doug and Audrey Graves, who has been married to their son, Bobby, for only five weeks. Lydia is from an ItalianAmerican family who have recently become wealthy. The Graveses represent old...