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A retired teacher at our Thursday book club meeting asked one question that killed our whole argument about The Road
Two weeks ago in the back room of the library on Vine Street, we spent 45 minutes arguing about whether the father in The Road was selfish for keeping the kid alive. Then a retired teacher named Ruth, who had barely spoken all night, asked us when we last read the book instead of talking about it. Nobody had an answer, so she had us all sit there and read the last two pages out loud, one at a time. The room went dead quiet, and half of us were wiping our eyes by the end. Has anyone else had a club member use one simple suggestion to pretty much reset how your group talks about books?
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the_lee13d ago
Reading the last two pages out loud is theater, not discussion. All Ruth did was swap one group feel good moment for 45 minutes of actual talk about what the book means. So everyone cried, cool, but did anyone change their mind about the dad? Doubt it. Half the fun of a book club is the arguing, and she basically ended the argument by making it a group hug. Bet the next meeting they just sit around waiting for someone to pull that trick again instead of having their own opinions.
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