Cannonball Book Club Reads Romance Discussion Topics

• Book Club discussion has begun! Join us on the discussion post.

We’re just over 10 days away from our March 1^st Book Club conversation about The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev. I’ve just finished up reading it myself, and I definitely have some mixed feelings about the novel (I’ve posted mine already, but feel free to wait if you prefer). Below I’ve gathered a few possible discussion topics for March 1^st, if you have more ideas for topics of discussion, please just leave them below in the comments.

Also, in order to foster the most possible conversation, I will be moderating discussion here on the mother ship starting around 11 a.m. Eastern and also over at our newly created Facebook group page, the Cannonball Read Book Chat, throughout the day. The group is open to everyone (although a closed group), so feel free to join us there as well!

On to the topics:

• This novel explores the idea that self-sacrifice is in many ways the coward’s way out, a running away not only from one’s problems, but from one’s true self. What are your thoughts about the ‘hard work’ of staying versus the ‘easy’ choice of running in both Vikram and Ria?
• Mental illness, and its stigma across cultures, plays a large role in this book. What do you think about its overall impact on the narrative? What are some examples of books which handled this particularly well, or poorly?
• Dev illustrates the so-called bubble of immigrant life in The Bollywood Bride. How does this affect the story she is attempting to tell?
• Can a relationship that didn’t work the first time, work the second? Does the book give us enough evidence to make an argument for either side?
• In her professional career Ria had been typecast as the ingénue bride. How does this roll over into other aspects of her life?
• Layering of the past across the present through flashbacks is a standard technique. How does the execution of techniques and tropes affect your enjoyment of a novel?

Anything else you’d like to talk about? Let me know in the comments!