Discussion Questions
1. What scene in Must Love Dogs made you laugh the hardest?
2. What gave you the biggest jolt of recognition?
3. What was your favorite "recipe" in the novel? Did you try it?
4. How would Must Love Dogs change if it were written from Carol's point of view? From Dolly's? From John Anderson's? Is there another character who might have narrated as effectively as Sarah?
5. Which traits of the Hurlihy family are shared by all families, and which are unique to them? Does your own family have a quirky little something that might have fit in with the story? One that would top them?
6. Have you or any of your friends ever dated through the personals? Would you be more or less likely to after reading Must Love Dogs?
7. Was it ethically/morally responsible for Claire Cook to place a phony personal ad in the name of research? Would it have been over the line to have responded to one? Should Claire have called the respondents and apologized, or was it sufficient to recycle their phone numbers to her single friends? Do you think she still has those phone numbers?
8. In the book, Sarah asks John Anderson, "What makes you think something's wrong with you?" Do you agree that people who are single often begin to think that something is wrong with them? If you've been single, was that true for you? Is there a version of this that applies to couples?
9. What are some of the ways in which people or society in general makes single people feel like second class citizens? How has that changed for women, and men, over the last several decades?
10. Some readers find Sarah's father, Billy Hurlihy, both lovable and exasperating. Based on what we know of his marriage to Sarah's mother, and his current love life, what do you think of him, especially as a husband and father? Is he likely to remarry?
11. As a preschool teacher, Sarah spends her days surrounded by children. As a member of a large, close-knit family, she is often in the company of her nieces and nephews. Do you think this makes it harder or easier for her to come to terms with the fact that she might not have her own children?
12. Would you want your own child to be in Sarah Hurlihy's classroom at Bayberry Preschool? Why or why not?
13. Claire Cook always wanted to be a novelist, yet didn't go after her dream until she was in her forties. Was she wise to wait until she'd had more life experience, or should she have had the courage to pursue her dream earlier? Do you think either path would have led her to the same place? What does that inspire you to achieve in your own life?
(Questions from the author's webpage.)