Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Worry by Alexandra Tanner

Book Club Discussion Questions

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. From mommy bloggers to tradfems to anti-vaxxers to flat-earthers, Jules engages with a very specific kind of online community. How would you characterize these influencers and why do you think she is obsessed with them?
2. The vagaries of sisterhood are a major preoccupation of the novel. Tanner writes, "[Poppy] won't let me in. I wish I could claw her face off, get to her soul, understand who she is, feel safe in thinking I know her... . If I were still writing, I'd write a shitty short story about us ... and in it there'd be a sentence like: Having a sister is looking in a cheap mirror: what's there is you, but unfamiliar and ugly for it" (page 165). How does this help you understand the Gold sisters better? Would Poppy describe Jules the same way? If you have a sibling, does this thought resonate with your own experience of that relationship?
3. Poppy's recurring, debilitating hives are an ongoing source of strife, but also something that brings the sisters together. Consider these flare-ups—do you think they have a symbolic quality? How do the sisters' struggles with mental health also impact their relationship?
4. Another theme in the novel is a deep sense of disconnection with those around us, and Tanner often dramatizes this via the texting habits of her characters. For example, when we see Jules composing and sending texts, there is often a marked difference between how she's feeling and what she actually ends up saying. Why do you think this is? At points in the novel, Jules and Poppy get into major arguments that only end or resolve over text. What do you make of this?
5. Discuss the entrance of Amy Klobuchar into the sisters' lives. How do the circumstances of her adoption and subsequent presence impact their relationship? Consider this exchange between Poppy and Jules after Amy pees her bed: "'All the websites say dogs never pee their own beds because it fouls their safest space.' 'Well,' I say, looking at Amy ... I guess we got the one dog who wants to foul her safest space'" (page 188). Do you think Jules and Poppy are each other's safest space? Why do they so often "foul" this space with petty cruelties?
6. After attending a performance of a Greek tragedy that has been updated with references to social media, Poppy "whines about the state of American theater, trying to put words to the reason why the play was so intensely bad. We hate big ideas and big emotions. The Greeks felt but we don't feel. We have TV in our hands. Art is dead... . Poppy's ideas about dead art, to me, are just as numbing as the idea in the play ... Dead art is everywhere. Dead art is my life" (pages 64–65). Discuss this sentiment, which comes up throughout the novel—to what extent do you agree with Poppy? To what extent do you empathize with Jules? What do you think she means when she writes "Dead art is my life"?
7. Consider the role of work in the novel. What do Jules's experiences at BookSmarts and Starlab tell us about her? What about Poppy's experiences at the private school where she works? Discuss the multi-level marketing schemes Jules's mommies are caught up in, and her comment "All these women who don't have to work, out there working!" (page 234). What do you think drives them to participate in these schemes?
8. A residual source of tension between the sisters is the expensive, nonreturnable bed Jules unwittingly bought for Poppy while high on sedatives. Poppy refuses to use it, opting instead for an old air mattress. How does the bed reflect larger issues in Poppy's own life and her relationship with Jules? What problems of her own is Jules projecting onto Poppy?
9. Discuss the ways Jules and Poppy's secular Jewish identity is explored in the novel. Revisit the SodaStream argument (page 15) and the sisters' search for their great-grandparents' graves (pages 194–200). How do these scenes speak to each other, and what do you think Tanner is trying to illustrate? What was your response to the moments of antisemitism they face, online and off?
10. Consider Poppy's declaration that "Love isn't really part of my worldview" (page 108) and Jules's subsequent insistence that their views on love are not as different as Poppy would like to think: "You're queer, it's not like we live on different planets... . We're, like, literally the same person" (page 109). How much do you think their worldviews and experiences actually differ? To what extent does Jules give space to Poppy's queerness?
11. How does the sisters' disastrous Thanksgiving trip help us understand them better, both as individuals and in their relationships with one another and the rest of their family?
12. Discuss the sisters' often antagonistic relationship with their mother, Wendy. Consider this line from Poppy and Jules's reply on page 251: "'Why do we need her so much? Why do I feel like I need her so much?' 'Because all anyone wants is to be mothered. Taken care of.'" What other examples of mothering do we see in the book?
13. What was your reaction to the final scene of the novel and its ambiguous ending? What purpose do you think it served, and why do you think this is the note that the novel ended on?
14. The novel ends in late 2019, with 2020 looming large on the horizon. What do you think the new year—and the pandemic—hold for these characters?
15. Discuss the title of the novel, Worry. What did it mean to you before you started the novel? What does it mean to you now?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Scribner. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.