Book Clubs
Kelly would love to meet with your book club either in person or via SKYPE. To set up a book club visit, please contact Kelly directly: Kelly@KellyOliverBooks.com.
Check out BookRiot’s printable bookclub discussion questions.
Wolf
SAMPLE BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
- How does Jessica deal with sexism at the university? How should she have dealt with it?
- Discuss the issue of party rape on campus. Is Lolita and Jessica’s revenge against the fraternity boys justified?
- Did you guess the killer? If so, how did you know? If not, who did you think killed Wolf?
- Do you think Nick and Jessica belong together? They’re both consenting adults. But is there a problem that she is a student and he is a professor?
- Who was your favorite character and why?
- What did you think of the alternating points of view between Jessica and Dmitry? Which was your favorite and why?
- Do you think Dmitry should have left Chicago instead of confronting The Pope once Bratva found him?
- Do you think Dmitry should have pursued a career in art or related to his interest in art instead of becoming a janitor?
- What did you think of the strong women characters in the novel? What did you think of the relationships between them? Between Lolita and Jessica? Between Jessica and Amber? Between Donnette and Jessica?
- Was Alexander a good villain?
- Did you learn anything about philosophy or art?
- Which was your favorite subplot? The Russian art subplot or the feminist revenge subplot?
- Is it important to the plot that Jessica is from Montana and used to be a cowgirl?
Coyote
SAMPLE BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
- How does the novel take up serious issues of Fracking, corruption, human trafficking, Eco-terrorism, and drug addiction? Did the novel make you more aware of these issues?
- Did you like the way the novel moved between Glacier Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation? In what ways did the setting act as a kind of character in the novel?
- The novel is told from three points of view, Jessica’s, Kimi’s, and Bill’s. Who’s point of view did you enjoy the most? Why?
- All three main characters are affected by the bus accident. Did you like the way that the story is anchored by that one traumatic event?
- What would Jessica’s life have been like if she’d stayed in Montana? In what ways is Bill a sort of alter-ego for Jessica as someone who stayed?
- Even though Jessica is from Montana, she doesn’t seem to fit in. Yet, she doesn’t fit in at graduate school in philosophy either. Discuss the ways in which Jessica is a misfit in both places, and why.
- How is Jessica’s life affected by others’ expectations of her?
- How does philosophy help her to cope with, escape, or navigate the world?
- What did you think of Jessica’s relationship with Kimi? How about Kimi’s relationship with Lolita?
- What was the biggest surprise in the novel?
- Was Tommy a good bad guy? What about Richard Knight?
- Did you like the double-identity subplot?
- Did the novel do a good job of raising awareness of the poverty and hardship on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation?
Fox
SAMPLE BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
- What did you learn about the I.V.F. and new reproductive technologies? Did anything surprise you?
- How did you feel about Jessica and Jack’s relationship? Were you glad they got together in the end?
- Is Max a good villain?
- Did you learn anything about genetic engineering? What do you think about negative (getting rid of all dis- eases and disability) and positive (improving the human race) eugenics? Are they ethical?
- Do parents have an obligation to make the “best” babies possible? Should genetics do away with disabilities if possible?
- What did you think about Olga’s relationship to her husband, Ronald? Should she stay with him? What are her options?
- What do you think about the animal rights subplot? How do you feel about animal experimentation and glow-in-the-dark mice and cats?
- What do you think about the possibility of multiple biological mothers?
- How do you feel about sperm and egg donation? How do you feel about college men and women making money by donating their sperm or eggs?
- Were you surprised by what happened to Jessica?