DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Anxious People |
1. The
man on the bridge tells the boy, “Do you know what the worst thing about
being a parent is? That you’re always judged by your worst moments....
Parents are defined by their mistakes.” Do you think this statement is
true? Does social media make it more likely to be the case these days?
In what ways are people critical of other’s parenting choices? Is the
bank robber a bad parent?
2. In
ANXIOUS PEOPLE, the author writes, “If you want to make God laugh, tell
Him your plans” and “The worst thing a divorce does to a person isn’t
that it makes all the time you devoted to the relationship feel wasted,
but that it steals all the plans you had for the future.” Do you make
plans for your life, or do you let life guide you? Even if our plans
often don’t turn out as we’d hoped, is there a benefit to our making
them? Discuss these questions with your group.
3. Zara
tells her psychologist, “your generation don’t want to study a subject,
they want to study themselves.” Is she speaking of millennials? Why are
boomers and millennials so critical of each other? How do they see the
world differently?
4. Nadia
(the psychologist), James (the police officer), Zara and Estelle all
have stories tied in some way to the bridge. What does the bridge
represent to each of them? Has the bridge’s meaning changed for them by
the end of the book? If so, how?
5. Anna-Lena
compares her and Roger’s marriage to a shark that can’t breathe unless
it is moving the whole time: “People need a project...if we didn’t keep
moving, our marriage wouldn’t get any oxygen. So we buy and renovate and
sell.” Why does Anna-Lena think that a project is the one thing keeping
their marriage from falling apart? What surprised you about their
history as individuals and as a couple? How have they underestimated
each other, despite having been together for so many years?
6. How
did you feel when the identity of the bank robber was revealed? Were
your assumptions challenged? How does the author manage to keep this a
surprise?
7. Zara
appears to be very cold and distant to other people. Is Zara’s attitude
toward people a defense mechanism? Do you agree with the psychologist
that Zara isn’t depressed, just lonely? What is it that Zara can’t
forgive herself for?
8. Estelle
says her book-swapping moments with her neighbor were “an affair.” Do
you agree? What counts as an affair if there’s no physical relationship
involved? What book would you give as a present to a crush?
9. While
on the apartment balcony, Zara starts to open up to Lennart. Why is he
the person to whom she is able to open up?
10. At
the start of ANXIOUS PEOPLE, the author tells us, “This story is about a
lot of things, but mostly about idiots.” In what ways are these
characters acting like idiots? At the end of the book, do you think
that’s still a fair description of them? Are we all, by virtue of being
human, inclined to act like idiots from time to time?
11. Jim
and Jack, the father and son policemen, have a difficult relationship
that is made worse by their working so closely together. What is it that
annoys them about each other? What did you make of Jim’s role in
resolving the bank robber’s predicament? Should he have told Jack what
he was doing sooner? Why didn’t he?
12. ANXIOUS
PEOPLE is very much a character study. How did your feelings about these
characters change over the course of the book? Who is your favorite
character and why? Which character surprised you the most and why? |
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