August is a book about parents and children and the needs of each for the other. Discussion might well explore different parental models — biological parents, adoptive parents, substitute parents, single parents, homosexual parents — in our society today. It might also consider psychoanalysis as a means of restoring mental health, looking into the process as it has evolved from its beginnings in Freud to its present merger of diverse theories and techniques.

1. Tremendous faith is placed on psychiatry by those in analysis. Based on the outcome of this book, is that faith justified?

2. Dawn tells Lulu during therapy that she never thought of doctors as "someone who could make a mistake."

Yet even analysts do make mistakes, especially in their own lives. What mistakes does Lulu make in dealing with her daughter and with the men in her life? Does professional knowledge (of psychiatry) seem...