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 Conversation:
1. What does Harper Hill mean when he says that he views his book as a "dialogue across the barricades that men and women have erected to protect themselves from each other"? To what kind of barricades is he referring? Have you "erected barricades" in your own life...or know others who have?
2. With topics such as "Dating a divorcé" and "Dating with kids,"is this book simply another dating how-to book? If so, in what way...and if not, how is it different?
3. Reading it, did you have the sense that it was aimed more toward men ... or women? Or do you feel Hill directs his message equally to both genders?
4. Do you agree with Hill's assessment when he writes this, in the following passage, about relationships between men and women:
We are growing jaded, cynical, tired, and world-weary before our time. We are expecting less and demanding less, and those lower expectations are making us unfulfilled and taking us farther from each other.
5. Hill wonders if men and women consider themselves friends. He writes that...
despite all the emphatic "I love men" and "I love women" declarations—[I wonder] whether men and women really even liked each other at all.
What do you think—do men and women like each other? How does "liking" differ from "loving"? How important is it to "like" your partner?
6. Do you agree or disagree with Hill's assertion that, when Black men don't live up to their responsibilities in a relationship—with women or children, they are not held accountable? Is that a fair statement?
7. Where does Hill think the roots of the problems lie when it comes to creating and sustaining stable, loving relationships?
8. Overall, what do you think of The Conversation? Does Hill cover new ground or say things that have been said before? Does he offer new insights into issues? Does Hill offer viable solutions to the problems he considers...or is his book basically a "scold"? Is this book essential reading for men and women?
9. Does Hill's book speak to you, personally? Does it make you reflect on your own life experiences?
10. Do you notice any recent societal trends that might change—either by improving or exacerbating—the issues that concern Hill?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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