Vent: My book club used to fight over character motives for an hour

Back in 2021, my group in Austin would argue if a protagonist was 'good' or 'bad' based on one sentence. Now I just ask 'what would you do in that scene?' and it cuts the debate time in half. Has anyone else found a better way to steer book club chats?

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parker_thomas2mo ago

Good approach. Keeps people from overthinking.

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abbyg142mo ago

It works pretty well but the question can still get people worked up if they don't like the character. Another thing that helps is asking everyone to pick one specific page or line that made them feel a certain way about a character. That way people have to point to something real instead of just guessing at motives. It keeps the chat from turning into a debate about what the author might have been thinking.

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