WellRead’s May 2023 selection was Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny. A word from the publisher: “From one of our most celebrated writers, our bard of waking up in the wrong bed, wearing the wrong shoes, late for the wrong job, but loved by the right people, Katherine Heiny has delivered a work of glorious humour and immense kindness.”
Use these discussion questions to engage with the book further, whether in a book club with friends, or just on your own as you digest the story.
Reading questions for Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny:
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As well as being described as "Elizabeth Strout after two shots of tequila", the New York Times compared Heiny's fiction as “something like Cheever mixed with Ephron”. How would you position her to a new reader?
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How does the book's title connect the stories within it?
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An article in The Guardian noted that Heiny "has the comic writer’s knack of taking a character’s idiosyncrasies and making them joyfully relatable." Do you agree? Which character did you most relate to and why?
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Heiny tends to open her stories after a relationship or friendship has ended. Why do you think she chooses to write this way? How does it shape the story?
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Did you have a favourite story in the collection? If so, why?
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Was there a story you didn't connect with? If so, why?
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Discuss how the experience of reading a short story differs from reading a novel. If you're a habitual short story reader, are there times you prefer the form over a novel?
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As well as love and relationships, what would you say Heiny is interested in as a writer? Which is to ask: what themes connect her stories?
- "This is the true price of infidelity,” one of Heiny’s second wives muses in the story 561. “Twenty years later you and your husband have to help his ex-wife move out of the former family home.” Was this a laugh-out-loud moment for you too?
Please note, these questions were written and distributed in May, 2023.