The Favorite Girl

White and off-white appear together in the Ivory Estate, reflecting the estate’s name as an off-white color. How would you compare and contrast off-white elements, like some bones on Ian’s bone wall, with icy white elements, like Bradley’s hair being bleached platinum blonde? How does off-white enter into the symbolism of whiteness?

How does the meaning of “favorite girl” change over the course of the novel? What does it mean to Demi to call herself the favorite girl in the novel’s concluding lines? Does she gain agency by reclaiming a term that was used to commodify her, or does she participate in her own commodification?

How would you compare The Favorite Girl with other thrillers about captivity like Kiss the Girls? How does this novel contribute to this subgenre? How does it contribute to the subgenre of feminist horror?

A few different kinds of birds are associated with Demi; she has “raven” black hair and is called a “hummingbird” by Daphne. How do these different bird symbols represent different aspects of Demi’s character and her experience?

Given that Demi is 19 at the start of the novel, does this thriller also function as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story? How do Demi’s experiences help to develop her identity?

How did the first-person narrative affect your experience of the book? How does it impact the novel’s ability to sustain mystery and develop suspense? How did it impact your understanding of Demi as a character?

How are love, marriage, and captivity connected in the novel? Does the novel present captivity as an allegory for heteronormative marriage? If so, what does this allegory suggest about the institution?

How does the novel use medical torture—such as the forced insertion and removal of IUDs—to comment on real-world efforts to control women’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy?