Susan Minot

Susan Minot, a restless traveler, was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1956. She first studied writing and painting at Brown University, later receiving her MFA in writing at Columbia University. Minot received her big break as a writer when publisher Seymour Lawrence contacted her and negotiated a contract. Her first novel was Monkeys, a compilation of nine short stories about various fictional families. Most of her stories involve sexuality and the woes of women in romantic relationships. “Lust” is taken from Minot’s second novel, Lust and Other Stories.

“Readers want characters to behave in a responsible way or they want to understand the characters’ dilemma and act, in a way, on their behalf.”

-Susan Minot

Literary Terms

  • Style: the way a writer arranges words to convey meaning and reveal purpose (refers to length of sentences, word choices, and structure)
  • Diction: the writer’s choice in words, which is crucial for manipulating a response from the reader
  • Tone: the author’s attitude toward people, places, and events in a story
  • Conflict: the struggle of the protagonist, or main character, of the story

Notable Quotes

“Teenage years. You know just what you’re doing and don’t see the things that start to get in the way” (284).

“For a girl, with each boy it’s as though a petal gets plucked each time” (286).
“Then they get mad after, when you say enough is enough. After, when it’s easier to explain that you don’t want to. You wouldn’t dream of saying that maybe you weren’t really ready to in the first place” (287).
“You begin to feel as if you’re showing through, like a bathroom window that only lets in grey light, the kind you can’t see out of” (287).
“After sex, you curl up like a shrimp, something deep inside you ruined, slammed in a place that sickens at slamming, and slowly you fill up with an overwhelming sadness, an elusive gaping worry” (288).

Discussion Questions

Please answer 3 of the 6 questions 

  1. Is “Lust” an appropriate title for the story? Explain why or why not and what could be an alternative title.
  2. Identify the tone of the story. Cite examples from the text to support your claim.
  3. How does Minot explore double standards between men and women regarding sex?
  4. Why is the narrator intimate with so many men? Is she completely willing, or is there some sort of pressure involved?
  5. Minot shows the contrast between the emotional impact on women compared to men; Use examples from the text to prove the differences.
  6. What is the significance of the last line, “You seem to have disappeared” (288)? What does it reveal about the narrator?