Watch Me

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Describe your experience of reading the story from two different perspectives. How did it affect your reading experience and your understanding of the characters?

2. Did any aspects of the novel story seem forced, inconsistent, or unexplained? Discuss how this affected your reading of the novel.

3. Did you empathize more with Rosa or James? Why?

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

1. Rosa lives under someone else’s control and never has a chance to figure out who she is. Describe a time in your life when you felt pressured to be something you were not, and how you handled the situation.

2. What might it be like to live in Rosa’s world, where every thought and action is heavily surveilled? Have you ever been in a situation in which you felt your privacy was impinged upon? How did it affect your behavior?

3. Have you ever felt like James, torn between your duty and your feelings for another person? What did you learn from that experience?

4. Rosa feels the need to shut down her emotions, both literally and figuratively, in order to avoid pain. What are your experiences with pain avoidance? Do you believe it’s better to confront or avoid pain?

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

1. How does the story comment on the impending development of AI and its influence on society? What are the dangers it alludes to?

2. What is the author trying to say about the subjectivity of morality? Consider the respective “rules” of the Reestablishment and the New Republic. How do you see their approaches reflected in different cultures in the real world?

3. Consider the novel’s treatment of family legacy, duty, and obligation. How do Rosa’s and James’s family legacies affect their present existence? How do you see this phenomenon manifest in our modern world?

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

1. How does Rosa’s “death” at the end of the novel affect your understanding of the themes of the narrative? How might this death really signal the start of a new life?

2. Discuss the symbolism of the apple that Rosa eats the first time she and James dine together. Why might the author have chosen this particular food? Consider its possible symbolic meanings.

3. Compare the two worlds represented in the narrative: Ark Island and the New Republic. How do they differ, and how are they alike? How do these settings work to amplify the themes of the novel?

4. Discuss Mafi’s representation of class in the novel. How does the story explore the contrast between the lives of the wealthy and the impoverished? 

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine a film adaptation of Watch Me. Who would you choose to cast as the lead roles if this novel were adapted into a film or television series and why? Are there aspects of the plot that you would particularly focus on or decide to omit? Why?

2. Sketch out an outline for the sequel to Watch Me, justifying your predictions with evidence from the novel.

3. Draw a map of Ark Island, based on the descriptions in the book. If you were to visit Ark Island, where would you go? What would you do? Is there anyone you would want to meet or avoid?

Need more conversation starters? Inspire your group with our Discussion Questions tool.