Love and Other Consolation Prizes Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, 170 Years of World's Fairs and our BookBrowse Review of Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The story of Ernest starts off on a very sad note. Do you condemn Ernest's mother for her actions, and if so, what were her alternatives?
2. The early suffrage movements in the U.S. all took place in what were regarded as frontier territories in the west. Why do you think the trends of suffrage and vice emerged at the same time, in the same places? (Like Wyoming, where women first got the vote in 1869).
3. Those suffrage campaigns were often intertwined with religious movements. When did women's rights diverge somewhat from a religious underpinning and why?

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