Getting It Right is a great for book clubs and other discussion
groups. Because the book tackles several issues such as grit and resilience, race, and much more, there are countless directions your discussions could go in and something of interest for just about everyone.
If you are interested in enjoying Getting It Right with your book club, here are some suggested discussion questions to get you started.
Grit & Resilience
Grit - the motivation, passion, courage, and ability to stick with a long-term goal. Resilience - the ability to adapt to adversity and change, bouncing back and moving forward.
To what extent do Kara and Alex demonstrate grit and resilience?
Do other characters demonstrate either, both? Who? How so?
How has this played out in your life? How have you encouraged grit and resilience in your children, mentees, or grandchildren?
Trust
Trust is at the heart of all relationships. Trustworthiness is a function of character. Being trusted is something others extend to you.
In Getting It Right, every character has broken the bond of trust with someone else. Some are not trustworthy. Most, however, rather than lacking character, made bad trust decisions. Explore the issues of trust in the various relationships within the story.
How do you see issues of trust playing out in your relationships?
Family, Foster Care, & Adoption
There are many stories in the papers and perhaps in your community about families adopting children from Asian countries and Russia. Yet 62,000 children a year in the US grow up in foster care, never enjoying being part of a family.
What are your thoughts and feelings about our adoption and foster care systems?
Kara and her foster care siblings "age out" of the system. They are left to their own devices at an age when many of our children still live/lived at home or were going to college. How did "aging out" effect Kara, Tuesday, and Flyer?
Kara and Alex have to come to grips with different definitions of family. What are your thoughts about who family is in the story? In today's world?
Sexual Abuse
Sexual, physical and verbal abuses are hard topics to write or read about. Did you find anything surprising about how the abuse affected Kara and her foster siblings?
To what degree did it surprise you that the three friends never spoke about the abuse?
People often discuss PTSD in terms of returning soldiers. How did you react to Kara's diagnosis and experience?
58,000 children under the age of 19 are sexually abused each year. There are often lots of clues. Kara's case worker and grandmother suspected but didn't act until there was proof. What would you do if you thought something was happening but didn't know for sure in the home of a family member, friend, neighbor?
Forgiveness & Redemption
Kara and Alex's father wants to "make things right." In your experience, can someone made up for past transgressions?
What if the mistakes from the past did permanent damage to a child or young person, does that change your answer?
Do you believe Worth Lawrence redeems himself?
Who else in the novel seeks redemption? Did he or she achieve it?
What role does forgiveness play in the novel? In life?
Race
What role does race play in this novel?
To what degree do Kara's feelings about her race affect her choices?
How are definitions of race changing in today's society?
Please share with me the other questions that have come up during your discussions of Getting It Right. And, I am available for book clubs and speaking engagements, get in touch with me if you'd like to explore some of these topics together.