Book Club: Musical Chairs

Discussion Questions

1.     There's a famous line in Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally that has always been hovering in the back of my mind: "Men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” Harry said men and women can’t be friends, while Sally believed they could, and we all know how it ended: with wedding bells. What do you think? Can men and women be friends? Or does “the sex part always get in the way”? Do you have a friendship like the one Bridget and Will have?

2.     What do you think about the trend of adult children moving back home? Is it smart? Is it healthy? Would you want your kids to move back home in their mid-twenties?

3.     How do New York City and Litchfield County figure into the plot? What do these two settings tell you about the characters who love and hate them?

4.     Edward is getting married! What do you think about finding love later in life?

5. Musical Chairs is written from the (close 3rd) perspective of many characters. Did you notice anything about the pattern of the narration? Who gets a chance to speak and when? (HINT: Think about the waltz.)

6. There’s a lot of music mentioned in Musical Chairs! As a non-musician, I had to do a lot of research to write this book. (Read about that here.) Gavin, Bridget, Will, and Edward all have strong feelings about their profession. What role does music play in this book? What role does it play in your life? (Spotify Playlist here!)

7. All of the characters in the novel have moments when they have to be resilient. Bridget bounces back from a break-up, Edward from a fall, Matt from a rocky patch in his marriage. Meanwhile, we’ve all had to be resilient recently! What role does resilience play during life’s inevitable upheavals? (More about upheavals here.)

8. How does it feel to read humor during a rather bleak time in history? In what ways did this book make sense in the time of Covid?