Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for House of Beth by Kerry Cullen

1. By the final pages, the whole life that Cassie spent the first half of the book building and settling into is gone. Is this a tragic ending or a happy one?
2. On page 78 after accepting Eli's proposal, Cassie thinks, I wondered if I'd finally made the greatest mistake of my young life. I hoped so. I was tired of things only getting worse. Was accepting Eli's proposal a mistake? Why or why not?
3. What are the responsibilities of a stepmother? Does Cassie fulfill those responsibilities?
4. Near the end of the book, we find that Eli and Joan's relationship is more complicated than we thought—in more ways than one. Can what Joan and Eli did be justified? Why or why not?
5. Beth's relationship with her faith changes a great deal over the course of the story. How does her religion influence her life? If her life had continued for longer, what might it have looked like?
6. Throughout the book, Cassie suffers from harm OCD, which manifests in gory intrusive thoughts. How do these thoughts impact her life choices? How might her life look different if she didn't have OCD—or if she had a different subtype of OCD?
7. Currants are featured on the cover and mentioned in the book. What is their significance to the story?
8. Beth's form changes multiple times in the story—first she has a human body, then she's something more boundless and changeable, then she is bound to Cassie's body. How does her personality change in accordance with these shifts?
9. The title, House of Beth, means one thing at the beginning of the book, and another at the end. What causes the shift between the two meanings?

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