Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Heart in the Right Place Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan

Heart in the Right Place

A Memoir

by Carolyn Jourdan
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Readers' Rating (12):
  • First Published:
  • May 24, 2007, 304 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Aug 2008, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About this Book

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF



For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Heart in the Right Place.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Reading Group Guide

Public Service Quiz

What is of greater service to the American people:

  1. Riding on a nuclear submarine, pretending to sink ships and wipe out major cities by firing torpedoes and intercontinental ballistic missiles?
  2. Wiping up barf when you're the only person with access to the paper towels and mop.
  3. Riding in a Lear jet
📖

Get the full reading guide

Join BookBrowse free to unlock all 24 discussion questions, author background, themes, and more for Heart in the Right Place.

Join free — it takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in →

  1. How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
  2. What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
  3. Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?


Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Algonquin Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Beyond the Book

Read-Alikes

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    When No One Else Will
    by Amanda Skenandore
    1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.
  • Book Jacket
    A Pair of Aces
    by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
    Two women on opposite sides of the law team up to bring down gangster Lucky Luciano in this gripping novel.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    The Reimagining of Thornwood House
    by Jaleigh Johnson
    A witch and her ward discover a magical walking house and find the true meaning of home.
    Read the Reviews
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
    Read the Reviews
  • Book Jacket
    Summer's Never Over
    by Darby Bozeman
    A woman revisits a Southern summer camp where a counselor's death may not have been an accident.
    Read the Reviews
  • Book Jacket
    Feast
    by Catherine Kurtz
    In 19th-century France, a girl with a magical taste becomes a duc’s poison taster amid nobility and danger.
    Read the Reviews
Who Said...

To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.