Suggested book club topics and

recommended questions for book group discussions

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1. Clementine and her sisters play a game called “Party Trick,” where each speaks one word in turn to form a sentence “with the fluidity and natural cadence of a single person speaking.” Try to play Party Trick with your book club and see how long you can keep it going!

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2. Spend the afternoon volunteering at an animal shelter near you, or host a fundraiser event and donate the proceeds to an animal rescue agency in your area.

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3. Stock up your kitchen and make “Adjective Sandwiches”! Assign an adjective to each person (try manic, melancholy, gleeful, narcoleptic, whirlwind, ponderous, sublime, and confusing, if you need some ideas). Have a tasting and award a prize to the person whose sandwich best fits their adjective.

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4. The Lord triplets communicate in a number of complex ways that are often immutable to those outside of their bond, and even to Clementine herself at times. Describe the various methods of communication - both verbal and nonverbal - that the sisters employ throughout the novel. Which methods are more effective and why? When does Clementine feel left out of the dialogue, and how does this make her feel?

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5. Clementine comes from a family of doctors, yet she decides to attend veterinarian school and chooses to surround herself with animals. Why doesn't Clementine choose to join the family profession, and how does her decision impact the family and her role within it? Why does she gravitate toward healing animals versus humans?

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6. Clementine’s thoughts and memories are largely dominated by Cameron. Why is it so difficult for her to move on? How does Cameron'’s suicide affect her life ten years later? To what extent does Clementine use Cameron and his death as an excuse to hide from relationship with men?

 

Many recommended discussion questions and great suggestions for book club groups are in the book!

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Recommended articles about sister relationships for book club discussions

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Literature's great sister acts (link)... Fiction has long outstripped psychology in exploring the bond between sisters. Who are your favourite female siblings in literature? The "passionate, complex, endlessly enlightening" bonds of sisterhood, and the ways in which we love, protect and nurture our sisters, as well as the equally powerful drive to compete with and/or clobber them.

Literature as cure for sister rifts: Throw the book at bad behavior (link)... Sometimes we wonder why sisters behave badly toward one another, and then quickly remember that the reason they do so is because they simply haven't read enough literature.

 

10 Spectacular Books About Sisters (link)... Sisters share a special bond. This relationship, when explored through writing, can be used to express heartwarming messages about familial love. We have gathered some of the best books that touch upon this subject.

Do you think that the relationships between sisters in classic novels -- Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, and Jane Austen's Emma -- are like the challenges sisters face today? Does the portrayal of a difficult sister or a "bad sister" seem right or are sister conflicts and sister problems more complex?

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Recommended articles about sibling
and sister relationships

What is it about the relationship bond between sisters that is so unique and so strong? Share your thoughts on books that explore ways for sisters to strengthen their relationships...even difficult relationships. Discuss sister relationships, sister conflicts, and sister problems. Does recent research about sister and sibling rivalries and advice for parents on improving sibling relationships resonate with your experiences?

Wikipedia on sister and sibling relationships (link)... The emotional bond between siblings is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality, and personal experiences outside the family.

Psychology Today on sister and sibling relationships (link)... Siblings are born to compete for parental attention, and the strategies they use wind up encoded in personality. Small wonder it can take a lifetime to work out sibling relationships.

Psychology Today on adult sibling rivalry (link)... The new view holds that conflict is not the natural state of sibling relationships. Still, for a third of us, discord sown early endures for a lifetime.

Wikihow on improving sibling relationships (link)... Be Nice to Your Older Sister or Younger Sister, Be a Good Big Brother or Sister, Build a Relationship With Your Baby Sister, Have a Healthy Relationship With Your Adult Sibling, Mend a Relationship with Your Sibling.

18 Songs about complicated sibling relationships (link)... Being so close yet so far away is a hallmark of sibling life. You can be inextricably tied to people without having much of a functional relationship with them. Strangely, even when they completely disappear from your life, you still miss them as is the case by the end of Juliana Hatfield's song "My Sister."

The relationship between sisters (link)... Like anything else, there is a range of how prominent competition is between sisters. There were sisters for whom the competition seemed overwhelming, and there were sisters for whom told me they had no competition.

The nature of adult sibling relationships (link)... The importance of the adult sibling relationship is beginning to be recognized and many aspects of the relationship are starting to be uncovered. What is the significance of the adult sibling relationship? What are the patterns and types of the adult sibling relationship? What are the factors that affect the adult sibling relationship?

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Recommended articles about twins, triplets, quadruplets, and multiples to share and discuss

Talk About Twins on Nurturing the twin bond ... Unlike single-born children, twins have a unique connection. The twin bond is important since its a relationship that really started in utero. Even in the womb, there was a lot of working together sharing a very small space.

Twins UK on Singleton siblings of multiples ... Another very real worry is how is your singleton child going to react to the new arrivals?

Kids Health on Parenting multiples ... Every book on parenting will tell you that life forever changes after the birth of a child. So parents of twins or higher-order multiples (triplets or more) can feel as if they've left the hospital and arrived home on a different planet.

Wikipedia on twins and multiples

Identical twins' genes are not identical ... Twins may appear to be cut from the same cloth, but their genes reveal a different pattern.

Exploring the traits of twins ... How much of any individual's personality is due to heredity? The center's answer: about half.

TwinParents on Am I pregnant with twins? Signs of a twin pregnancy .... A picture is worth a thousand words and if you are pregnant with twins, maybe two thousand! If there is one sure fire way to know that you are pregnant with multiples, its with an ultrasound.