The Calamity Club Book Club Questions

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett is at the top of the New York Times bestseller list and is one of the hottest book club books of the year. With that in mind, I knew I needed to make a list of The Calamity Club Book Club Questions for your next book club meeting.

Calamity Club is a deeply moving story about an 11-year-old girl, Meg, separated from her mother; the lengths her mother, Charlie, will go to get her back; and Birdie, the woman willing to risk everything to help them reunite. It’s also about life in the South in the 1930s, the hardships of the Great Depression and its impact across classes. The book moves back and forth between Meg and Birdie’s narratives, painting a full-body experience of that time for orphans and adults. The themes in this book make it the perfect pick for book clubs.

Jackie also created this list of Book Club Questions (+PDF). These are universal questions you can use in addition to the specific ones below. I have tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but I knew that specific The Calamity Club book club questions would be incomplete without some details. If you need to refresh your memory, head to the Summary of The Calamity Club for an in-depth review.

The Calamity Club Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide

1. Being a child made Meg a bit of an unreliable narrator, but it also made readers aware of context she wasn’t. Did you like this narrative choice? 
2. Would the story have been the same if there had been a different narrative style?
3. What did you think of Birdie’s dad’s reaction to her inability to bear children, particularly compared to her mother’s?
4. What did you think of the airs Frances put on and the lengths she went to hide her past?
5. When did you realize Garnett’s hatred of Meg went deeper than her behavior at the Orphanage?
6. Were you aware of the sterilization programs in the USA at that time? How did you feel when you found out Garnett was the reason Charlie was sterilized?
7. Did you predict that Welty was Meg’s father? 
8. Did you feel any sympathy for Welty or Garnett during the story?
9. Frances gets a man by following every rule in the book, while Birdie ends up getting a man by being herself. The lesson seems relevant to the world today, but how realistic did it feel for the time period the novel was set in?
10. Men are only on the outskirts of this novel; it’s really about the support, indifference, or outright cruelty inflicted on women by women. Do you think Stockett intended a lesson about the soft power of women in society in this telling? 
11. What did you think of Tom being torn between his relationship with Lucille and his mother, and ultimately what that meant for Meg?
12. Did you read The Help? If so, how does this book compare to that one for you?
13. Birdie thinks about the Mississippi River changing course and thinks anyone can change. Do you agree with her? How was that proven or disproven during the course of the story?
14. Victoria’s character was able to highlight some of the injustices in gynecological practices. Were you shocked that less than 100 years ago women’s pies were treated that way? Do you think we’ve made enough strides in that area?
15. Esmeralda and Flossy also have children, but decided to let them go to have a better life, the opposite philosophy of Charlie. Do you think one is more correct than the other?
16. Were you aware that Law 213 existed, prohibiting wives and husbands from both working at the same time so the wives could stay home and more men could have jobs? Did it remind you of other periods in history? Do you think that will ever be a possibility here in America again? Do you think it’s only the allowing of more men to have jobs that allows the law to pass, or are there other reasons this law would be popular?
17. What did you think of Lucille‘s treatment of Meg after the funeral?
18. Tom tells Meg the story of the slave dogs; both he and Meg can hear them. What significance do you think they have for the story?
19. At one point, Birdie calls Garnett a traitor to women; however, many members of the Anti-vice league had personal reasons for wanting to limit promiscuity alcohol and other devices. Do you think that they were wrong in their convictions?
20. What did you think of Jack’s reaction to the boarders?
21. Did you suspect Esmerelda was passing?
22. Were you surprised by Mrs. Tartt’s character arc? What about Frances?
23. Why do you think it took Dr. Pittman so long to do the right thing?
24. The ending was rather abrupt, which some people like and others don’t. What did you think?
25. Where do you think the characters are now?
26. Meg was saved from Garnett, but she is still the head of the orphanage and the Anti-Vice League. Do you think she will do the same thing to other little girls?

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Epilogue

Will you be using these The Calamity Club book club questions for your next book club?