Who is Rich? (Klam) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, consider using our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Who Is Rich? ... then take off on your own:

1. Start your discussion with Rich Fischer. Describe the state of his life—his career, marriage, finances—that make him particularly susceptible to Amy? Pay due diligence to his relationship with his wife: what are his feelings toward her and their marriage?

2. What do you think of Rich? Are you sympathetic toward him in spite of his infidelity and the draining of his family savings?

3. Rich has come to see "the lonely existence of fatherhood and monogamy as submission and defeat." Is that how you would describe modern family life? Does his perception of fatherhood echo some women's complaints about the drudgery of housework and raising young children? Do Rich's feelings of defeat give him an excuse for adultery…or perhaps make it understandable?

4. When Rich hooks up with Amy, how does her privileged lifestyle make him feel?

5. Do you enjoy the drawings by John Cuneo? Do they enhance the narrative…or are they distracting?

6. In what way is the novel a reflection on its title? How does Rich view himself? Does he have any illusions about this own value?

7. Talk about the way Rich mines his own life—his experience, wife's stories, and his friends' confidences. How else does a creative person create art (including fiction)?

8. Overall, what do you think of the book? Do you find it funny, frustrating, sad, thought-provoking? Are you satisfied with the way the novel ended?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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