Marriage Lie (Belle) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club talking points to help start a discussion for THE MARRIAGE LIE ... and then take off on your own:

1. Take some time to describe Iris. What do you think of her? Some readers found her rude, or gullible and easily manipulated. Others appreciated her perseverance. What do you think of her?

2. Talk about Iris and Will's marriage as portrayed at the beginning of the book. In what way does it seem perfect, even enviable?

3. Secrets underlie the supposedly perfect union between Iris and Will. How destructive are secrets to a relationship? Can secrets ever be countenanced in a marriage … are some secrets permissible? Do you have secrets in your closest relationships—with your spouse, significant other, or dear friends? What if you found someone were keeping secrets? Would it depend on the secret?

4. Iris's investigation takes her to Will's hometown where she discovers a very different version of her husband. Talk about the revelations into Will's past.

5. Follow-up to Question 4: One of the big questions The Marriage Lie poses is the way in which a person's past shapes and/or defines the future self. How does Will's past shape the person he becomes?

6. Follow-up to Question 5: Supposedly, Will has changed by the time he marries Iris. Is it possible for people to change?

7. Do the lies and secrets Iris discovers about Will erase all that was good in their seven years together as husband and wife?

8. The issue of accountability is essential to the couple's marriage and is one of Iris's core values, especially in her work with students. How does what she uncovers about Will undermine Iris's relationship with the notion of accountability?

9. Talk about Eva and her role in the novel. In fact, what do you think, overall, of the student body and their parents?

10. Did you find yourself switching allegiances to characters as the novel progressed? Whom did you trust and then later begin to doubt? How does the author accomplish those shifting loyalties?

11. Were you surprised by the ending? Is it satisfying, worth the read?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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