How does Phoebe’s relationship with her body contribute to her character development and/or challenge genre expectations? How does the novel’s message contribute to contemporary discourse around mental health?

Discuss Averick’s use of symbolism and metaphor throughout the novel. In what ways does her use of these literary techniques contribute to her thematic engagement with The Isolating Experience of Anxiety?

Compare and contrast Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It with another novel that features a supportive friend group as a central part of the story, such as Talia Hibbert’s Take a Hint, Dani Brown or Emily Henry’s Happy Place. How does each novel demonstrate The Value of Platonic Relationships?

Analyze Jonathan Cooper’s character arc as a parallel narrative to Phoebe’s. How do his struggles with identity and sexuality mirror and diverge from hers, and what does this parallel structure reveal about the novel’s broader arguments concerning self-acceptance?

Compare and contrast Matthew Baxter with another romantic leading man from classic literature such as Edward Ferrars from Austen’s Sense and Sensibility or Shakespeare’s Romeo Montague. What similar traits or flaws emerge?

How does the novel’s structure, particularly its use of an Author’s Note, work to frame Phoebe’s journey and manage reader expectations? Cite specific examples from the text to support your argument.

The novel provides detailed, clinical depictions of Phoebe’s anxiety, including panic disorder, emetophobia (an intense fear of vomiting), and Relationship OCD (an anxiety pattern centered on obsessive doubts about one’s partner or relationship). How does grounding Phoebe’s experiences in specific psychological diagnoses affect the narrative?

In what ways does Averick’s background as a digital creator and podcaster, where she candidly discusses her own mental health, inform the novel’s narrative voice, humor, and thematic concerns?