Serious question, is a book club debate supposed to be about the book or about what the book made you feel?

My old Thursday night group used to argue about plot holes and whether the author's timeline added up, but the new group I joined last month just wants to talk about how the story made them cry, and I'm trying to figure out which approach actually helps us understand the book better.

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_murray883d ago

Buddy of mine joined a book club that was all feelings all the time. One person spent twenty minutes describing how a rainy chapter made her remember her childhood dog. The next week he suggested they talk about a giant timeline error in the middle of the book and someone accused him of not connecting with the material. He hasn't been back since.

the_viola3d ago

Your friend's story is missing one key detail - what book was it? Because if the book was some literary fiction where the timeline thing is actually a stylistic choice, then yeah the group had a point. But if it was a straight mystery or thriller with no reason for a time jump error, that's a real problem. Either way, a book club that can't handle a simple question about plot structure probably wasn't for him. Twenty minutes on a childhood dog memory though, that's rough even for the most feelings-forward group.