The Interestings Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, New York City in the 1970s and our BookBrowse Review of The Interestings.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Think about how talent is presented in the book. In your opinion, is it something you are born with or something you work hard to achieve? What is Meg Wolitzer saying about early talent? How is it important to future success? What roles do money and class play in fostering talent? Think about Jules and Ash. How does money influence the trajectories of their lives?
   


2. Jealousy is referred to in the book as being "I want what you have," whereas envy is "I want what you have, but I also want to take it away so you can't have it." Who is jealous in this book? Who is envious? Can jealousy become envy? How is envy tied up in issues like talent and money?
   


3. Single parents, lost parents, and absent parents play a role in this novel. In what ways do the families the characters were born into shape their futures? Ash and Goodman are the only characters to come from an intact nuclear family that is able to provide for all their needs. Do you think this is necessarily a good thing for Goodman? What about Ash?
   

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