The Collective Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Asian American Writers' Workshop and our BookBrowse Review of The Collective.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. If there was a final letter from Joshua to Eric that got misdirected to NStar, what do you think Joshua would have written?
2. Are minority associations in various professions useful or counterproductive? What do they offer participants? Does the solitary nature of artistic work contribute to the 3AC's concern about defining themselves as part of a tribe or race and maintaining their cultural integrity? Why is it so difficult for the 3AC to create their mission statement?
3. If the forty-one-year-old Eric who narrates this story were just meeting Joshua and Jessica now, would he still consider them as interesting as he had when they were college freshmen?

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