Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi

1. Instead of asking why the author chose to write in verse, let's discuss how the verse makes us, readers, partners in meaning-making throughout the novel. Find a moment in the novel where the verse leaves a gap or slips between more than one possible meaning. How does the possibility of multiple meanings shape this story and your understanding of the characters and narrative?
2. When describing her mother's mortar, Marisol says that its drawings "document our truth: / We exist and we are real" [58]. Discuss the connection Marisol is making between stories and existence. Where else do you see this connection in the novel?
3. The book Marisol reads over and over again—The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison—comes up multiple times in this story. If you haven't read it, take some time to look up its details and themes. What connections can you make between (S)Kin and The Bluest Eye? What do these connections tell you about Marisol?
4. Duality plays a big role in this novel—not just in its narrative content but also in its story structure. Find some examples of the novel's structural duality (e.g., narration, organization, etc.). In a novel that centers magic, identity, race, vengeance, family, and more, why might duality be an effective structural device for storytelling?
5. What do you make of the alternation between Marisol and Genevieve's perspectives? The space separating their narrations gets smaller and smaller as the story goes on—like a braid getting tighter as it reaches its end. How does the novel's intertwining structure connect to the two girls' experiences in the story?
6. For her Black History Month dance solo, Genevieve chooses "Pretty Hurts" by Beyoncé. Discuss her choice and some of the reasons she gives for it. How does this song for this particular dance relate to the issues of colorism, pretty privilege, and self-image throughout the novel? Support your answer with examples from the text.
7. Define freedom in the context of this novel. It's a concept invoked by several characters—do they all envision freedom in the same way? Do different characters' ideas of freedom have anything in common? What about yourself—what does freedom mean or look like to you?
8. Near the end of the novel, Marisol says "there is no better mirror than seeing / your own skin worn over / someone else's soul" [370]. What does she mean? If "skin" is used metaphorically as well as literally, how does the meaning change? For instance, how is Lourdes' metaphorical skin being worn by her daughters and holding a mirror up to her?
9. Discuss this statement: "The stories we tell ourselves can be / just as powerful as the truth" [73]. Do you agree with it? Why or why not? How does this statement play out in Marisol and Genevieve's narrative?
10. After following this novel's expansive symbolism around the literal and metaphorical idea of skin and the ways it invokes identity (whether culturally rooted, internally developed, or externally imposed), what do you make of this book's title? In what ways do the complexities of skin and kinship collide or overlap in the novel? Use the text to support your answer.

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