You’ve been all over the web. You’ve searched every book club site you can think of, but you can’t find a reading guide with discussion questions. Not a good sign, especially since it’s your turn to lead the book club discussion. So what are you doing now?
First of all, don’t panic. Second, keep in mind that book club reading guides are fairly new to the trade: publishers started publishing them with some regularity about 10 years ago, maybe less. So BG (before the guides), book clubs had to figure out how to lead their own discussions. Oh!
But even if you can’t find a specific reading guide for your title, things still aren’t as strict as they were back then. You can now find Generic Book Club Questions, such as the set below. These 10 questions are designed for any novel and will generate rich and lively discussions in book clubs.
- how did experience the book? It’s not always helpful to talk about whether or not you liked the book, but rather how you felt while reading it. Were you effortlessly drawn into the book…or did you have a hard time doing so? Because? Did you find yourself amused, intrigued, captivated, disturbed, fearful, irritated, angry, or impatient?
- are the compelling charactersDo they pass off as credible human beings with underlying motivations? Are they fully developed as emotionally complex individuals? Or are they one dimensional, with little emphasis on your inner life?
- Which characters admire or dislike-and because? Which are your principal characteristics; How would you describe them? How do the characters interact with each other? A father with his children; a husband with his wife; a friend with a friend.
- That motivate actions of a given character? To what extent does the character’s past play a role in his present actions? Are those actions justified or ethical?
- make any character grow or change Throughout the novel? Does any character come to learn something about themselves or to see the world differently? If so, what does she learn? Or is the character “static”, changing from start to finish?
- Which is the core conflict Of the plot? Is the conflict internal to the character (a psychological conflict)? Or is it external, does it have to do with character vs. character? character against society? character against nature? (Most novels have a combination of internal and external conflict.)
- is the novel plot based? In other words, does the plot develop quickly, focusing more on the action than on the inner lives of the characters? Which prefer?
- is the plot well developed? Is he believable…or is he forced? Is it suspenseful or more contemplative? Does it unfold naturally, or do you feel manipulated along the way by coincidences, bizarre plot twists, or cliffhangers?
- Is he ending satisfying? predictable or not? Are the ends wrapped neatly? Is it too clean, too simple? Does it leave some problems unresolved, questions unanswered? If you could change the ending, would you? If so, how would you change it?
- That central ideas Could the author be exploring the themes of the novel? Consider ideas about the nature of love, the requirements of kindness, the meaning of justice, the burden of the past… basic human themes at play in the book.
Sometimes I think generic book discussion questions are better than those issued by publishers. Those read too much like a nasty pop quiz. I can’t answer the questions, sometimes they are too specific, too precise. In fact, I’m not sure anyone can answer them except the author… and even then I’m not sure.
The generic questions in the book, on the other hand, are more open ended and more dependent on the experience of the readers. And because of their broader nature, I think they get to the heart of a novel more effectively than the prepackaged versions.
So the answer to the question above (what do you do when you can’t find discussion questions specific to your title?) is to relax. Use generic questions and you’ll do just fine. In fact, you and your book club will do it brilliantly!