I Am Not Jessica Chen

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

1. The book heavily explores the process of navigating comparison and expectation in one’s life. What is your personal experience with this? Are you fairly self-content in your life, or do you find yourself constantly comparing your achievements and capabilities with others around you?

2. Jessica Chen eventually cracks under the pressure of always having to perform, ending up plagiarizing a fellow student’s work. Reflect on a time in your life when you similarly felt a high degree of pressure to perform. How did you respond? Are you proud of how you handled it, or do you regret the choices you made? In retrospect, would you have made different choices in that situation?

3. Of the different characters in the book, whom did you most relate to, and why? What similar feelings or experiences do you share with this character?

4. The school that Jenna and Jessica attend in the book boasts a highly competitive environment. What was your own schooling experience like? Was there a high focus on a specific kind of achievement, or were you encouraged to work within your own capabilities?

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

1. What role do you think the Chen families’ immigrant experience plays in the pressure that the girls feel to succeed? Comment on how Liang touches upon the privileges of race and class in the book with relation to success.

2. In the book, Aaron is the one character who seems free of the expectations and pressures that come with being a high-achiever that all the others—Jessica, Leela, Cathy—feel weighed down by. Do you think gender plays a role in Aaron’s more relaxed attitude? If yes, how? If no, what social factors do you think contribute instead?

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

1. Liang uses a very popular speculative fiction trope, the “body swap,” as the central premise of this book. How does Liang both conform to, and subvert, the trope in the book? How effective do you think its employment has been in sustaining the plot and exploring the book’s themes?

2. Compare and contrast Jenna and Jessica’s characters. Are they really as different from each other as they seem? What similarities can you see in both their personalities and backgrounds that feed into their respective character arcs? How do each of them find resolution?

3. Comment on the book’s title. Do you think it changes in significance over the course of the book? How and why?

4. Discuss how the book explores the journey of personal growth through extraordinary circumstances. Besides Jenna, which other character experiences such growth in the story?