Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club traces four generations of women through their connection to a single restaurant. How effective did you find this multigenerational structure for telling the story? In what ways did it enhance or detract from your reading experience?

2. Throughout Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, food serves as a source of both livelihood and connection for the characters. How does Stradal’s approach to food culture compare to his treatment in Kitchens of the Great Midwest? What aspects of Midwestern cuisine and restaurant culture did you find most intriguing?

3. The novel alternates between different narrators and time periods. Which narrative voice or time period did you find most compelling, and why? Were there any perspectives you wished had been more fully developed?

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

1. The novel features characters who struggle with expectations placed on them by family legacy. Have you ever felt the weight of family expectations regarding your career or life choices? How did you navigate those expectations?

2. Florence’s yellow house represents both her past and an idealized future that never materializes. Is there a place or object from your childhood that holds similar significance for you? How has your relationship with it changed over time?

3. Throughout the novel, characters must decide whether to stay in or leave Bear Jaw. Have you ever had to choose between remaining in your hometown or seeking opportunities elsewhere? What factors influenced your decision?

4. The relationships between mothers and daughters in the novel are complex and often fraught. How does your own experience with mother-daughter relationships compare to those portrayed in the book?

5. Ned finds unexpected happiness working as a bartender rather than running his family’s business empire. Have you ever discovered joy or purpose in an unexpected role or activity that didn’t align with your original life plan?

6. Mariel and Ned discover different ways to rebuild their lives after tragedy. What do you find most meaningful about how each character finds a new purpose or direction?

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

1. The novel depicts the changing economic landscape of small-town Minnesota, particularly through the contrast between the family-owned Lakeside Supper Club and the expanding Jorby’s chain. How does this tension between local businesses and corporate chains continue to affect small communities today?

2. The book touches on how LGBTQ+ relationships were hidden and stigmatized in mid-20th century America, particularly through Floyd and Archie’s relationship. How have attitudes toward LGBTQ+ individuals changed since then, especially in small towns like Bear Jaw?

3. Supper clubs are presented as important community institutions in the novel. What similar gathering places exist in your community, and how have they evolved over time? Do you think these types of establishments still hold the same cultural significance in the contemporary world?

Examine technical and thematic elements.

1. The novel shifts between four different narrators across multiple time periods. How does this narrative approach compare to other multigenerational family novels like Pachinko by Min Jin Lee? What insights does this structure provide that a chronological telling might miss?

2. The novel explores both literal inheritance (like the Lakeside or Jorby’s) and figurative inheritance (like personality traits or values). How do characters’ relationships with their inheritance reveal deeper themes about family legacy?

3. Food and drink play central roles in the novel, from the old-fashioneds to venison to prime rib. How do these culinary elements contribute to the characters’ development?

4. The yellow house functions as an important symbol for Florence. What other symbols did you notice in the novel, and how do they contribute to the novel’s themes?

5. The characters in the novel struggle between choice and fate. To what extent do they control their own destinies, and to what extent are they bound by circumstance or family history?

6. The novel ends with Julia selling the Lakeside despite its deep family connection. How does this conclusion reflect the novel’s themes about tradition, progress, and finding one’s own path?

Encourage imaginative interaction with the text.

1. What signature dish or cocktail would you add to the Lakeside menu that represents your own family history? Write the story that would accompany this menu item.

2. Julia ultimately charts her own path away from the Lakeside. Write a short description of her life five years after the novel ends.

3. Mary Sands transforms the old Jorby’s location into a restaurant serving locally sourced food inspired by Indigenous recipes. Design a menu for another transformed Bear Jaw establishment that would honor both the town’s past and future.

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