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Our club split 50/50 on the $35 reading guide for 'The Overstory,' and I think the guide people are wrong
Six months ago our club in Sacramento picked The Overstory, and half of us paid $35 each for the official reading guide while the other half read it cold. The guide folks showed up with tabs, notes, and a whole list of themes, but here is the thing, the cold readers had way more to say. When we hit the section about the chestnut trees, the cold readers argued about it for 40 minutes, while the guide folks just kept saying what the guide told them to say. It felt like paying for someone else's homework. I get that guides help if you are short on time, we all have jobs and kids, but do they kill the best part, which is figuring out what you think before someone tells you? Am I wrong here?
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patricia_gonzalez16h ago
Your club just proved the point without meaning to. The cold readers got to have a real fight about the chestnut trees because nobody handed them the answers first. Paying for a guide is fine if you're slammed that week, but the fun part is getting confused together and working it out. Forty minutes of arguing beats a list of themes every time. Half your club basically skipped the book club and went straight to the summary.
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