Is your book club going to read and discuss The Kitchen Sink Sutra? Here are some questions to get the conversation going…
- In your opinion, what is The Kitchen Sink Sutra really about? (Grandmothers? Buddhism? Dogs? Best Friends? The importance of a really good cup of coffee?)
- What makes Olivia and Julia a good match? Do you think they’re going to stay together?
- Olivia’s relationship with her mother is complicated, she says. Or is it?
- What traits do Alex and Olivia’s mother Clara share? How are they different?
- The book is written in first person, present tense, which is an unusual style. What did you think of this narrative choice?
- Women’s lives and stories are centre stage in this book. What role(s) do the male characters play? (Alf, Tenzin, Drew, Mr. Spaghetti.)
- How does the author challenge and expand our understanding of the meaning and structure of family? The varieties of love? (Romantic love, familial love, friendship, etc.)
- Olivia is sometimes an interesting mix of having it totally together and then completely falling apart. Did this influence your opinion of her?
- In the last chapter, Bea Wiseman says, “None of us has long, Olivia. What we have is now.” Do you agree or think this is true? If it’s true (or not true) what are the implications for daily life? Is this a good way to live? What are the pitfalls?
- Did The Kitchen Sink Sutra change your perspective on anything? Relationships, religion, small towns?
- If you could meet one character at the Second Chance Café for coffee, who would it be? (What would you order?)
- Did Olivia make the right choice in staying in Stafford Falls? Why or why not?
- How does Stafford Falls compare with your experiences of small towns?
- Tenzin teaches Olivia that the secret to great happiness is to wash each dish with the care and attention you would use to bathe the newborn baby Buddha. Does this resonate for you?
- When meditating with Tenzin and his singing bowl, Olivia has a memory of a moment at her easel, a perfect moment of flow, or presence. Is there an activity when you have experienced that feeling of being “…just there, completely, exquisitely there, in the moment?” What was it like?
- What role does food play in The Kitchen Sink Sutra? Preparing meals, enjoying meals, and of course, doing the dishes are all important activities and often seen as “women’s work.” How does this novel challenge that assumption?
- The Kitchen Sink Sutra has been described as “Gilmore Girls meets Golden Girls,” because of the intersection of two generations of women and their friendships. Did you relate more to one group?
- #FriendshipGoals: Do you have a friend like Pam? Like Eddie Spaghetti? Like Angie and Penny Clarke?
- What did you think Miss Holly was coming to tell Olivia at 4:46 a.m.? Were you shocked by what happened to Eddie Spaghetti? Would the story be as compelling without the events surrounding Eddie Spaghetti?
- What does this story communicate about aging?
- The last six words: “This. This, right now. It’s enough.” Do you think it is enough? Will Olivia be happy?
- If you could hear this same story from the point of view of a character other than Olivia, who would you choose? Why?