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 The New Woman:
1. Why does Agatha fear at first that moving into the Sunset Senior Apartments might not be such a good idea. Are those concerns typical of many her age?
2. Eventually, Agatha settles in and reaches out. In what way is she able to change lives? Do those who are older have special qualities unique to them, qualities that enable them to help those who are younger? Do our communities value the elderly to the extent that we should?
3. How would you describe Agatha? Is she right to be repulsed by John Beezer's manners, Edna's courseness, or the general pervasion of incivility? Are her standards fair? Is she too rigid, old-fashioned, or superior? Or is she correct in her assessments?
4. Were you surprised by the outcome of the diamond brooch? Losing or misplacing items seems to be a motif running throughout the novel. What larger issue might this represent?
5. Which episodes do you find particularly humorous in Hassler's book—the MX Box, digging up Lillian's coffin...others?
6. Talk about the characters in The New Woman? Aside from Agatha, whom do you find most interesting, funny or likeable? Do you find Hassler's portrayals realistic? Do you see yourself...or others you know...in his characters?
7. Overall, how does Jon Hassler treat small-town life? Does he make fun of the people? Does he celebrate their values? Is he nostalgic—does he overly romanticize small-town life in the MidWest?
8. If you've read other novels in the "Staggerford" series, how does this one compare? Are the characters which reappear here consistent with their appearances elsewhere in the series? If you haven't read other installments, does this book inspire you to do so?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)