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Can we talk about how I fixed my book club's 45 minute argument with a timer?
Last month our group in Sacramento got into a yelling match over whether the mom in "Room" was selfish, and nobody got to say anything real for almost an hour. So I brought a little kitchen timer to the next meeting and gave each person 2 minutes to talk with no cutting in. The weird part was that the quietest member, who never speaks, gave the best take of the night once she knew nobody would jump in. Turns out the problem was never the book, it was that we all talk over each other. Has anyone else tried something like this, or does your group just let it run wild?
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the_gavin21d ago
The "quietest member gave the best take" thing is exactly what bugs me about the timer idea. Some people need to talk it out to figure out what they even think, and a ticking clock puts them on the spot so they just freeze. My old group in Portland tried timed turns once and it turned into everyone giving these stiff little speeches instead of real talk, and the back and forth is where the good stuff happens. Plus 45 minutes of arguing over whether the mom in Room was selfish is not a bug, that book is designed to make you fight about her.
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