Update: I used to skip the discussion questions until last week

I've been in this book club for about a year and I always just read the book, showed up, and talked off the top of my head. Thought the printed discussion questions at the back of the book were just filler for people who couldn't hold a conversation. Last week we read 'The House in the Cerulean Sea' and I decided to actually jot down answers to five of the questions before the meeting. Turns out it made me notice stuff I completely missed on my own, like how the author uses food to show character growth. I brought up one question about the theme of belonging and it sparked a 20 minute debate that totally changed how I saw the ending. Has anyone else tried prepping with the questions and found it shifted your whole take on the book?

2 comments

2 Comments

kaip1120d ago

The 20 minute debate probably derailed the meeting more than it helped. I've seen groups get stuck on one question and then rush through the rest of the discussion or skip important parts of the book entirely. "The House in the Cerulean Sea" has a pretty straightforward plot about found family and acceptance, so overanalyzing the food symbolism feels like missing the forest for the trees. The best discussions I've been in came from people reacting honestly to the story in the moment, not from pre-written answers about theme of belonging. Prepping questions just forced you to look for specific things instead of letting the book hit you naturally, and that canned debate probably made everyone else feel like they had to match your energy or stay quiet.

cole_hall20d ago

62% of our last book club meeting was spent arguing about whether the lighthouse keeper in "To the Lighthouse" was a bad dad or just distracted. I still don't know what anyone thought about the actual writing style because Jenny brought homemade scones and we got sidetracked comparing her recipe to her grandmother's. It worked out fine though, we ended up having a better time debating scone texture than we ever did talking about stream of consciousness.