My book club's 'civil' talk about 'The Goldfinch' turned into a shouting match last Tuesday

We were at my place in Denver, just five of us, and it was fine until we got to the ending. Sarah said the last 100 pages were a waste of time, and Mike took it personally because he loved it. Voices got loud fast, and someone actually said 'you just don't get good writing.' I had to step in and say we were done for the night before it got worse. It felt like a bad reality show. How do you calm things down when people get that heated over a book?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaeljones16d ago

Set a rule for next time that no personal attacks are allowed. People can hate a book, but they can't say someone else has bad taste. It keeps the fight about the words on the page, not the people in the room.

claireo6715d ago

My friend's group almost broke up over "Moby Dick" until they banned drinks after the first hour.