Girl Dinner

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What were your overall impressions of Sloane and her marriage?

2. Which characters did you find the most sympathetic and why? Which resonated the least with you?

3. Have you read other works of contemporary horror that address what it means to be a woman in contemporary society? What points of commonality or difference did you find?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Sloane often feels torn between her professional duties and her personal life, especially her role as a mother. Have you ever felt torn between your professional and personal lives? How do your experiences compare to Sloane’s? 

2. Do you have any experiences in common with Nina when it comes to exclusive institutions or insular social cliques? If you went to college or participated in Greek life, how accurate do you find the author’s descriptions?

3. The protagonists grapple with having to choose between their ambitions and wider ethical concerns, such as Nina’s unease over possibly shirking her responsibilities toward wider social justice issues. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you had to choose between being true to your morals or advancing your own interests? What did you decide to do, and why?

4. Sloane feels both troubled and drawn to some of the social media content she sees, such as Caroline’s The Country Wife account. What is your own relationship with social media like? In what ways, if any, do you think your social media consumption reflects or impacts your own values and/or sense of identity?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How does this book reflect on conservative feminism and the rise of phenomena like the “trad wife”? How does it examine issues of intersectionality and the problem of racial and class privilege? What, if anything, does it contribute to the discourses surrounding these issues?

2. How do you think social media impacts women’s identities and broadens—or narrows—the definition of feminism? How does the novel explore or critique social media’s impact on modern womanhood?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Analyze how the novel presents academia. How is The University depicted, as both a setting and as an intellectual community? How does the author use The University as a microcosm of wider social dynamics and issues?

2. Consider the various forms of power in the novel—class, gender, race, intellectual elitism, etc. How does the novel explore the nature of power by using these different manifestations of power dynamics?

3. The novel is classified as belonging to the genres of both horror and suspense. How does Girl Dinner utilize, or subvert, tropes and literary techniques common to both genres?

4. How does this novel represent sisterhood and community? How does it explore both the benefits and drawbacks of insular communities?

5. How does the author use the motif of cannibalism to critique patriarchy, traditional power structures, and/or the way women sometimes exploit one another within such systems?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If this book were adapted into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles and why?

2. What songs would you include on a playlist to accompany this novel?

3. Imagine a sequel of this novel. What happens to Nina? Does Sloane stay married to Max? What other events might you include in your second installment?