This Was Not the Plan (Alger) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Charlie has a prepared response to justify working for a prestigious law firm that represents clients he doesn’t respect, but he contradicts himself when he speaks candidly at an office party. Do you think Mira’s birthday, lack of sleep, and stress are mostly to blame for his behavior, or do you think the moral dilemma is the root cause of his outburst? Do you think it is sometimes important to compromise one’s principles for the sake of a job?

2. Charlie’s drunken comments at the office party and a viral video of the speech cause him to lose his job. Do you think the consequences would have been less severe if the incident had not been leaked to YouTube? Do you think the firm was justified in letting him go? How has the Internet changed the workplace and the ways in which we interact professionally?

3. Charlie and Zadie’s father says he had wanted to be in their lives from the very beginning. Zadie is fairly quick to accept this story; Charlie struggles, but ultimately concedes his father must be sincere. Do you believe their father was completely honest with himself regarding the situation and his intentions toward their mother?

4. According to Charlie’s father, their mother refused his money because she didn’t want her children to be spoiled, saying that the money would “screw [them] up.” Was she justified in her refusal to be helped? In your opinion, would wealth inevitably have spoiled Charlie and Zadie? How much of character development in childhood do you believe is influenced by socioeconomic status? By parenting?

5. Do you think Charlie and Zadie could ever have a full, healthy relationship with their father after so many years of distance? Can people fully heal and truly come together after such a long estrangement?

6. Charlie refuses Fred’s offer to join his new legal firm. Is he motivated more by hurt or more by the desire to leave behind the grueling lifestyle he’d been leading? How do you define work-life balance? Is it possible to achieve that balance at a job like Charlie’s?

7. According to Zadie, Charlie’s dismissal from Hardwick, Mays & Kellerman is a healthy dose of failure. Do you think that being fired was truly what Charlie needed at this point in his life, or do you think he would inevitably have left of his own accord? Do you think failure always offers a positive learning experience? Consider a time when you failed. How did it affect you?

8. Charlie spends time with his son and works out his complicated feelings for his father as they all spend time together in the Hamptons. What are the lessons Charlie learns from his son? From his father? How does he come to understand fatherhood through his experiences with both of them?

9. Do you think Elise and Charlie made the right decision when they decided not to enter into a relationship right away? Is it likely they will ultimately be together?

10. When Charlie arrives in the Hamptons, he finds his sister, her fiancé, his estranged father, a woman with whom he once had a fling, and his soon-to-be-stepmother. He is initially outraged and uncomfortable with the situation, but with time (and Zadie’s encouragement) he accepts the unconventional arrangement. What do you think are the binding moments for this unusual family? Are blood ties the strongest of all? How do you define family?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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