June

We had a good turnout last night for our discussion of Little Fires Everywhere and a good discussion. We tried something new this month. Instead of just having a list of questions, we took drew rounds of questions from a basket. Not only did that put each person with some questions they had to answer but holding that question in your hand was a good reminder that we still had book discussion to continue with when we got off track.

We largely stuck to the publisher's questions for the book, although they were tweaked some and we didn't include all of them. This allowed us to talk about character development, the different kinds of mothers, the setting of the book and how it impacted what the characters did. We spent a lot of time talking about the open-ended questions Ng left for readers to consider. A lot of our discussion had to do with surrogacy: the way it was accomplished here, the difference it might make if neither of the prospective parents were a biological parent, and whether or not we would be able to carry a baby as a surrogate. We also spent a lot of time talking about adoption, the role race plays in adoption, and what happens when a birth parent decides they want their child back. We had to remind ourselves frequently that Ng has set this book twenty years in the past and then we worked to remember what the world was like at that time.

Those of us who had read the book enjoyed it and we would definitely recommend it for other book clubs. There were enjoy wider topics discussed in this book, too, so that those who hadn't read the book could also jump into the conversation.

Thanks to Ann for hosting and all of the yummies and to Lisa W. for sharing books!