Discussion Questions, Starters, & Suggestions
If you want to use any of our selections for your own queer book club, I've included my discussion questions for each title. I encourage my group to think of the discussion questions as starting off points. I always joke that they're not homework, so don't worry about preparing detailed answers with page numbers and quotes for each. These questions aren't the parameters of the discussion, rather, they are places to start thinking that go beyond "what did you like" or "which character is your favorite," which can often yield brief and (candidly) uninteresting conversation, especially if you want to think more about texts rather than their readers. Passion and interest should always guide the best conversations, but hopefully these questions can help as well.
If you aren't used to starting a book club discussion, I usually encourage my members to start with one word they think of when they think of the book. It can help set the tone of the room; it shows how everyone is feeling about the book at that moment. Then, I encourage them to just talk about what strikes them. If they don't know where to go, the questions can guide the conversation. I also like sharing these questions before our meetings; sometimes people like to prepare something to say and knowing what kind of questions people might share helps alleviate some sharing anxiety.
Don't feel constrained by these questions; adapt or create your own. I was often frustrated by the fact that there weren't any questions for me to cheat off of. I know I was overwhelmed by not having a place to start, so hopefully my questions can help you.
Kingdom of Sand
Time’s movement– or lack thereof dominates this novel. It also can make it confusing to track the relationships that develop (or don’t). What do you think shapes the narrator’s relationship with time? How is it unhealthy?
Places are important in this novel; obviously Holleran provides detailed descriptions of the narrator’s and Earl’s houses.In this world, do you think people control their settings or do they control them?
How did this book make you think differently about aging or independence?
Do you find Earl and the narrator’s relationship sad or beautiful?
Why do you think the narrator remains in Florida?
Virology
Which essay did you find most interesting or thought provoking?
Throughout the book, there are several significant metaphors for viruses (war, whiteness, communication)? Which did you find most interesting?
Did thinking about covid through the lens of biological viruses help you think of the last few years?
Essayists are often defined by voice. What did you make of Joe’s voice?
What did you find as a running theme (if any) throughout the essays?
What did you want more of? Less of?
Detransition Baby
What do you think the novel offers about motherhood/family?
What relationship interested or compelled you the most in the novel?
How did the novel challenge your ideas about queerness?
What did you think about that ending?
Days of Afrekete
How does the (Philadelphia) setting impact a character's ability to explore their identities?
What do you make of Liselle and Winn’s relationship? Her relationship with Liselle?
How does the novel critique ways we do and do not talk about class, gender, or racial divides?
How do you think time and memory impacts the dynamics of personal relationships?
What do you think of the ending?
Light from Uncommon Stars
This novel seems concerned about legacy and origin stories. What do you think the novel is suggesting about legacies and the past?
Mentorship and assistance also seem central? Who do you think is the most effective helper?
Many of our novels seem centered on family– its presence and its absence lately. How does the novel define the roles and possibilities of queer family?
Do you think the genre-mixing worked effectively?
Was Shizuka worth saving? Did you feel satisfied with the ending?
Giovanni's Room
How did the room help/hurt their relationship?
How does Baldwin define and critique space’s relationship with queerness?
What do you think is David’s greatest flaw? Is it apathy? Shame? Duplicity?
Do you think David’s travels more reflected a search or an escape?
Is there any hope in the ending?
Do Baldwin’s reflections on themes including space, sexuality, and freedom still reflect queer realities?
Fun Home
How does Fun Home complicate notions of legacy?
What can we make on her reliance on letters/books?
Is this a queer family? What did we make of her parents?
How limited is Alison by her small town? How limited is her father?
Appearance/performance seems central. Do you think it’s positive/negative?
Autobiography of Red
How do you think the form informs/reflects the meaning of the work?
How does art heal and help others in this work?
In the original, Herakles kills Geryon. How does the ending compare?
Consider setting. How does the past function? How does place?
How does the work understand desire?
What questions do you have?
All This Could be Different
What relationship do you think serves Sneha the most? What are the limits of these?
What can we make of the contrast between Sneha’s shifting values and circumstances? How responsible is she for those contrasts?
Milwaulke and the recession seem central. How might the novel shift in a different city or a different time?
What do you think is the “all this” that Sneha wishes was different? Does she really?
What do you think is the relationship between money/pleasure?
Think about Amy/Pink House. What is the novel saying about neighbors?
Zami
How do you think Lorde wants us to understand her? What’s her voice?
The book starts and ends with her mother. What do you think the role of her mother is?
How does loneliness factor into her understanding of her own queerness? How much is society responsible?
Lorde opens by considering “home.” How do you think she ultimately defines it?
Consider Zami as a coming of age memoir. Which space do you think is most important to her maturing identity? Which relationship?
Do you think there’s a unifying thread to Lorde’s depiction of queer women in the 1950s?
Was there anything that struck you about 1950s queer life (esp compared to now?)
The People Who Report More Stress
What story captured you the most? Explain why.
How does family function in these stories? Are they stressors or salves?
Do you think the city (New York) is a character in these stories?
Do you think the different takes on the couple in the final stories are more consequences of personal differences in each story or different responses to their societies?
Public health is central to Varela as a writer and as a theme. How effective do you think his method is for conveying his themes?
What did you like/not like about these stories?
Dancer from the Dance
How does the gay community in New York help/hurt these characters?
What makes Malone so appealing to the narrator? Or is he simply tragic?
Does Malone choose to pursue love/”the dance” or just allow himself to be carried away?
Is time an important factor in this novel? Is it the villain?
How does queer community intersect and/or mirror the interests/flaws of American society writ large?
Does the novel feel more timely or historical?
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
Beyond his body, does Paul change by the end? How?
Do you find Paul more insecure or confident?
How do the places he finds himself shift his identity?
What do you think makes Paul’s relationships so unstable?
Do you agree with Robin that they’re “like everyone else, only more so.” Why?
Fledgling
How might Shori’s amnesia and subsequent relearning reflect queer relearning after coming out?
How does sex and gender play into the relationships and conflicts of Shori’s symbionts?
What are ways queerness does and does not impact our understanding of the Ina?
How does Shori’s physical appearance and identity– that of a genetically-modified, young, Black girl– enable her? How does the human and Ina perception of that identity limit her?
What do you think of Butler’s treatment of consent?
What does the novel suggest about justice?
Boulder
Do you think that Boulder’s nickname suits her?*
How does metaphor aid this narrative? Did you like metaphors?*
Appetite is a running theme of this novel; What defines and controls appetites?*
How do settings– particularly barren ones– define this novel?
Why do you think the relationship breaks apart?
How does the novel define queer motherhood/parenting? Is it being practiced?
Fat Ham
How does the play subvert expectations to be tragic? How might this speak to typical dramatic depictions of marginalized characters?
How does the play portray self-performance as a part of Juicy’s queer, Black identity?
How does social and family expectation and obligation impact the characters?
What does the play suggest about expectations of masculinity and femininity, particularly when informed by queerness and Blackness?
What do you think the play suggests about grief? How does gender inform these ideas?
What characters help Juicy move forward? What characters hold him back?
Orlando
How do you think Orlando understands their own identity?
Besides the central gender change, how else might the character and the novel be considered queer?
What might be the significance of Orlando’s obsession with poetry and literature?
What do we make of Orlando’s various relationships and friendships? Which seem most valuable?
Binaries seem an important motif in Orlando. Do you think Woolf rejects them?
Do you think Woolf seems to think all Orlando’s eras are more alike or more different? Are they distinct or merely cycles?
What questions do you have?
We Both Laughed in Pleasure
How does Lou understand the role of people you’ve never met on your identity? What strikes you?
How does Lou understand the value of queer history?
Is pleasure and enjoyment enough?
How do we differentiate between an archive, a collection, and a hoard?
How do we understand the tension between “Lou the person” and “Lou the historical figure”?
What does one gain with a diary over a more traditional memoir?
Each section is delineated by place. How does Lou define home?
Blackouts
How did the other media and genres- the blacked out writing, poems, photographs, films, collage- inform your reading?
The novel is full of ambiguities and inconsistencies. What is one that struck and why?
What strikes you about Juan’s and the narrator’s relationship?
Why do you think the narrator stayed with Juan?
Why “Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns?”
What do make of the novel’s refusal to make clear narratives out of the adapted and manipulated histories in “Sex variants?”
How does Blackouts compare to other versions of queer history you’ve read?
Postcolonial Love Poem
Which poem spoke to you or struck you the most?
Though the first poem in the collection is the only one labeled as a love poem, were there other poems that you felt could be described as love poems? If so, why?* Is there something queer about this love?
Across the collection, there are four poems that share the word “Light” in their title: “Blood-Light,” “Skin-Light,” “Ink-Light,” and “Snake-Light.” What sources of light are depicted in each of these poems?
Rivers and water are powerful images and verbs throughout the poems. What do you think they mean?
How does translation inform Diaz’s work?
Blackouts explored memory, history, and community, and its queer variations. How does Diaz’s explorations of these same themes compare?
100 Boyfriends
Consider the range of relationships in the stories. Why title the book 100 boyfriends? What might that suggest about the relationships in the book or queer relationships generally?
Purnell has said his stories work to resist the clinical ways we define relationships, regardless of how traditional they are. How do you think he accomplishes this?
What’s the difference between self sabotage and self protection in these stories?
How does Purnell define, critique, and/or celebrate queer understandings of pleasure and sex? How does this shift in different stories?
How do Purnell’s character and boyfriends grapple with selfhood (beyond the traditional narratives of coming out or accepting queerness)?
Ghosts and the past haunt these stories. Do you think they’re positive or negative impulses?
Which was your favorite story? Why?
Nevada
Introduce yourselves again. What did you think of the book? Go deeper than likes or dislikes! Be critical but respectful! If conversation drags, here’s some questions to get you thinking. We’ll talk in small groups for a while and then return to a larger group to hear different opinions and share successes of the conversation!
Why do you think Maria tries to help James? Do you think she succeeds?
What do you think of Maria? Do you accept her justifications of her choices?
What do you think the book says about queer mentors?
Feelings of stasis seem to be a major fear: being stunted, feeling stuck, feeling trapped. Do you think this fear is warranted?
How does the book capture something about the role of the Internet to queers?
In her afterword, Binnie talks about the insufficient ways we talk about transitioning as something pre- or -post. How does the book show that complication?
What does a road trip offer in the novel?
The Talented Mr. Ripley
What do you think Tom wants? Do you think it changes? Do you think he knows?
How does Tom’s understanding of his sexual identity inform his choices?
Do you think Tom thinks money or shapeshifting is more valuable?
What does the novel suggest about identity? How do factors like class, money, possessions, the past, and performance change it?
How do you think Tom understands relationships, whether it’s with Dickie or simply being around the “right people?” Who are “the right people?”
What do you make of the setting (postwar Italy) and Tom and Highsmith’s relationship and understanding with it?
Why do you think Patty didn’t “punish” Tom with justice?
Why do you think Tom thinks he deserves “il meglio” (the best)?
All About Love
What do you think of her working definition of love or the need to define love? Do you have a definition that counters that?
Where do you think her gendered understandings of love work well or fall short when the loving individuals are queer.
Do you think her focus on media representation of love is appropriate? Regardless, do you think we see her type of love in media?
How does her personal narratives complicate her essays? How does she complicate how we use personal narratives in general?
She loves to challenge: where do you see some challenges in popular discussion of things like trauma, family, solitude, accountability, and community? If you initially resisted, did you eventually agree?
Do you agree with her ideas on truth and lying and love?
Do you think people take love seriously?
What do you think is a framework you might take with or keep thinking about beyond this book/discussion?
Real Life
What is the “real life” that the novel refers to? What do you think Taylor is saying about “realness.”
What strikes you about Wallace’s experiences in a predominantly white institution?
How does Wallace’s identity as a queer, Black, poor, Southerner inform/limit his romantic and social relationships?
What are some causes of Wallace’s isolation? Obviously some are not, but do you think some are avoidable?
Wallace says “kindness is something owed and something repaid… an obligation.” Do you think the novel suggests there are other obligations?
How much power do you think the novel gives to the past?
Do you think Wallace should leave or stay?
