Update: Our book club was stuck on the same old arguments every month

We kept having the same circular debates about whether an 'unlikeable' main character ruined a book (you know, the usual stuff). I suggested we try something different last month with 'The Secret History' and assigned each person a specific character to defend, no matter what. It forced everyone to look at the book from a totally new angle, and we actually had a real discussion for once. The debate went for over an hour, which is a record for our group. Has anyone else tried a structured role-play trick like this to get past surface-level opinions?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninal916d ago

Oh wow, that's such a smart idea. I used to be the person who'd just say a character was too mean and write the whole book off. But being forced to defend, like, Bunny from that book (what a mess he was) made me see how his greed came from being totally broke and left out. It stopped being about if I liked him and started being about why he was even in the story. It totally changed how I read now.

seth_carr6d ago

Totally get that, @ninal91. I used to do the same thing, just hate a character and quit. Now I'm over here trying to figure out why the worst guy in the book is even like that, like it's my job.