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Serious question, did anyone else have a book club pick that completely backfired?
I was talking with my cousin last night, she runs a book club over in Portland. She said they picked a memoir about a guy hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, thinking it would be this light adventure story. Everyone showed up ready to talk about scenery and gear, but halfway through the book the guy gets into this deep depression and a divorce. Half the group didn't even finish it, and the other half felt awful for laughing at the early chapters. It got me thinking, have any of your clubs picked a book that turned out way heavier than you expected? What did you do, just avoid talking about the bad parts?
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thomas29116d ago
My uncle's book club picked a historical fiction about a sailing race, figured it'd be all adventure and sea shanties. Turned out the main character spends the whole book losing his crew to scurvy and going insane from loneliness. They ended up just bringing snacks and complaining about the weather for the whole meeting instead.
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the_riley16d ago
Oh man @thomas291, I've been there. "Bringing snacks and complaining about the weather" is basically how half my book club meetings go when someone picks a "sailing adventure" that's secretly a bleak psychological horror. My advice? Next time your uncle's group picks a book, have someone skim the reviews real quick and check if people are calling it "atmospheric" or "haunting" because that's code for "everyone dies slowly and sad." I also started making everyone text a one-sentence vibe check before we agree on the book so nobody gets stuck with an accidental miseryfest again. The snacks thing is smart though, at least you guys had food, my club just sat there staring at each other like we'd been cursed. Could always pivot to a nonfiction book about the America's Cup next time, way less scurvy involved.
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