How to Become a Book Club

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Our book club has chosen yet another book that the great Internets have no discussion questions for!

This time, we’re reading Self Help by Lorrie Moore. Because it’s a book of short stories, we’re focusing on the first one, How to Be an Other Woman.

This story is fairly exemplary of the book as a whole. As most of the stories, it has a rather sad ending and keep you feeling kind of sick for the main character throughout, although it has its moments of joy, too. The atmosphere feels very 1970s.

Here are a few discussion questions. Please help me out by adding to them in comments!

1. Why does the author write this story in the second person (i.e., using “you”)? How does that affect the reader’s understanding of the story?
2. What does this story say about the ways that men and women go about conducting affairs?
3. What is the significance of the lists throughout the story?
4. (Update, 2/3/10) From co-conspirator Annie Cherbony, via Facebook: Let’s discuss our favorite lines from this story. :)