Reading guide for The Course of Love by Alain de Botton

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What makes this book distinctive?
2. What is the difference between Rabih and Kirsten's views of love at the start and at the end of the story?
3. What does the author mean by 'Romanticism' throughout the book?
4. In what way is Rabih hard to live with?
5. In what way is Kirsten hard to live with?
6. What do the characters gradually learn about one another?
7. Can a good novel be didactic? If not, why not?
8. Does the division into action and italicized commentary work?
9. What are the immature patterns of behavior that make love hard for our couple?
10. What is mature love?

Questions provided by the Author and issued by Monterey County Free Libraries of California. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution.

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.