Reading Guide for Look on the Bright Side by Kristan Higgins

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Lark knows she's a weeper, even jokes about it. Do you think her emotional interactions with patients infringe on her ability to treat them? How would you feel if your doctor got teary-eyed or cried with you? How do her emotions make her a better or worse doctor?
2. Lorenzo clearly has a difficult relationship with his family—and people in general. Do you know anyone like him? Do you think his abrasiveness has more to do with his upbringing, or was that just the way he was born?
3. How do Lorenzo and Lark help each other beyond their arrangement? What do they learn from each other? Did you expect them to end up together?
4. After seven years, Lark finally feels attracted to someone again. Why Dante? What qualities does he have that affect Lark? Did you suspect that Dante had met Lark before?
5. Beauty is becoming an increasingly controversial topic now that social media has put photoshopped images of beautiful people at our fingertips. Do you relate to Joy's obsession with beauty? Why do you think her brother supported her in changing her exterior self? Do you judge her for placing so much importance on her physical appearance?
6. Many marriages change after retirement. Gerald explains how after his retirement he felt increasingly invisible and inconsequential in the face of Ellie's continued success. Do you sympathize with him? At one point, Ellie says she's damned if she does, damned if she doesn't. Did you relate to her feelings?
7. Gerald and Ellie are known by everyone for having a "perfect" marriage. Do you think they do? What's good and what's bad about it? What kind of pressure might come from being seen this way by their kids, friends and acquaintances?
8. Do you think Gerald's emotional affair is forgivable? Is Ellie justified in her anger and sense of betrayal? How would you react if you found your partner had been having a similar interaction with someone?
9. Joy and Ellie form an unlikely friendship. Joy has essentially been a kept woman all her adult life, and Ellie has had to work and raise a family at the same time. How do those differences help each woman see herself? Why do you think their friendship works?
10. Lark's attempt to get to Justin's side is one of the most wrenching parts of the book, and something she can't forgive herself for. Later, when she's with Nancy, she wonders if Justin purposefully dies before she can get there. Do you think that could be true? Have you ever heard of a situation when a dying person's final breath seems to happen at the one moment when they're alone?
11. Lark thinks being an oncologist is her life's purpose, so her switch to emergency medicine makes her feel like a failure. Ellie, too, has had a role in life—the perfect wife—which is suddenly taken from her. Joy says she's always felt that she was a costar in her brother's life, and without him, she feels lost. Did you ever feel that you were meant to be one thing, then became another, either in your professional or personal life? Did that swerve happen to you, or did you make a choice to go another route? How do those swerves help the women in the book grow and change? How did your swerve change you?
12. Lark's colleague talks about having "your moment," the point where a doctor knows they're doing the work they were always meant to do. Lark's "moment" is particularly dramatic, but have you ever experienced a similar realization or epiphany about your chosen vocation?
13. Higgins's novel includes moments of profound sadness but also of comic relief. What situations, characters, or dialogue brought a smile to your face or made you laugh out loud?
14. Look on the Bright Side is set on Cape Cod, one of the author's favorite vacation spots. Have you ever been to this part of the country? Whether you've been to Cape Cod or not, in what ways do you think this setting was important to the story? If you were going to write a novel set in a beloved vacation spot of yours, what would you choose?
15. Lark's sister Harlow is one of the main characters of Higgins's earlier novel A Little Ray of Sunshine. Which of the characters in Look on the Bright Side would you like to see star in a novel of their own?
16. Lark maintains a relationship with Justin's parents even after his death; fearing their reaction to a new significant other becomes in some ways a barrier to moving on. Have you had a relationship with in-laws or friends that persisted even after the death of a loved one who first brought you together? How has it changed after loss?
17. What audience would you recommend this novel for? Are there other books that you've read that you felt were similar, either in themes or writing style?
18. Overall, what did you think of Look on the Bright Side (no spoilers)?

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