Vent: My book club turned into a therapy session overnight

I joined this club six months ago because I wanted to talk about plot twists and character arcs. But our last three meetings have been nothing but people relating every chapter back to their own divorces or childhood trauma. Last Tuesday, we spent 45 minutes on chapter 4 because Sarah kept crying about how the main character reminded her of her ex-husband. I get that books hit you in the feels sometimes, but I signed up to debate whether the ending was satisfying, not to hear everyone's life story. The group leader even said we should 'honor the emotional space' and now I feel like I can't even bring up basic stuff like pacing or symbolism. Has anyone else dealt with a club that drifted this far from the actual book discussion?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahhall3d ago

Did your friend's book club start doing that thing where someone brings a journal to every meeting? My buddy Mark had the same problem with his sci-fi club. They read Dune and somehow ended up with a 2 hour debate about someone's strained relationship with their dad. He quit after they spent 20 minutes discussing how a sandworm symbolized their fear of commitment.

willow6723d ago

A sandworm. They spent 20 minutes on a sandworm representing a fear of commitment. That's the kind of thing that makes me want to walk out mid-sentence. I once sat through a 45 minute breakdown of how Legolas's hair color in Lord of the Rings represented emotional repression. The guy running it was dead serious. It's like they forget books are supposed to be fun sometimes.