Cruel Beautiful World Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Manson Girls and our BookBrowse Review of Cruel Beautiful World.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Why do you think Leavitt called this novel Cruel Beautiful World? How does the title relate to the themes of her novel?
2. Leavitt's novel is told from the points of view of five characters: Charlotte, Lucy, Iris, Patrick, and William. Do you think the novel is more effective told this way, from a closed point of view, or do you think it would have had more impact if she had used a third-person omniscient narrative? Why do you think Leavitt chose this way of telling the story, and how would the novel have been different if she had taken a different approach?
3. Leavitt is deliberately unclear about what really happened to Lucy and if William was really culpable.  Why do you think she left it open-ended? What do you think really happened—and why?

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.