Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Couples:
1. Updike's novel was considered scandalous in 1968. Do you find it as shocking today, considering the popularity of TV serials such as "Desperate Housewives" or "Sex in the City"? Did Couples reflect or alter societal values?
2. The novel centers around Piet Hanema. What prompts his infidelity? Does he actually have motivations, or are they merely rationalizations? Do you find Piet a sympathetic character or not?
3. Is Couples, with its depiction of boredom and infidelity, a fair or accurate portrayal of suburban life?
4. What is meant by the phrase "post-pill paradise"?
5. Does Updike seem to be championing human freedom through the relaxation of sexual mores? Or is he using the novel's infidelity as symptomatic of a larger societal decline?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)