Can we talk about how book club debates changed after 'The Help'

I was in a book club in Austin that read 'The Help' back in 2011 and everyone just kind of nodded about race issues. But last year with 'The Nickel Boys' the same people had a full hour argument about whether the author lets white readers off too easy... 10 years really changed how we talk about these stories. Has anyone else noticed their club's conversations getting sharper or more heated about race in books?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_carr251mo ago

Disagree that it's sharper. My group just has more people looking to prove they're the most woke instead of actually discussing the book.

aaron70825d ago

Thats the problem right there. Everyone walks in with their social media persona instead of just reading the damn book. My group had a similar thing happen where one person basically ran a debate club on white guilt for two hours. The book barely got talked about. We went from actually asking questions to performing for each other. Sharp discussion is one thing, but at some point its just people flexing.