"Reading Group Guide Discussion Questions"

[Kimberly]

Hey all!

I wanted to share the discussion questions that were included at the end of the book to make discussing this book a little bit easier. For the moment, please use this as a means to mentally form your answers, as I will repost this towards the end of the month for open discussion. Have fun everyone! :)

**Already finished your book? Looking for a suggestion for what to read for the remainder of the month? Try "Historic Haunted America" by Michael Norman and Beth Scott.**

1. Merry talks about how conflicting oral histories, urban legends, pop culture, the Internet, and media have affected her memory of the events she experienced. Discuss the challenges of telling a story in the information age. How does our culture's saturation in information and disinformation add to the feelings of dread, paranoia, and horror within the novel?

2. Marjorie and Merry's sibling relationship is as complex as it is heartbreaking. Discuss the power dynamics and nuances of their relationship. Talk about how your own experience as either an older or younger sibling has shaped who you've become.

3. Stories are how Marjorie and Merry communicate, and they play a central role in their relationship. As an adult, Merry has a writing job that requires her to deconstruct stories. How do the stories the sisters tell each other mirror and inform their relationship? Discuss how story shapes Merry as an adult, and how the stories we read, watch, and are told shape us all.

4. Within "The Last Final Girl" blog posts, the TV show "The Possession" and so many other classic or typical horror narratives are described as being thematically reactionary; an attempt to reestablish the status quo. Discuss how this novel explores an/or subverts those expectations and compare/contrast to other horror novels and movies.

5. Could a reality show like "The Possession" be filmed today? Would there be controversy and/or a backlash? Would you watch it?

6. The happenings within the Barrett household closely reflect scenes from other horror novels and movies, as is pointed out within "The Last Final Girl" blog. What was the author's intent? Did you notice any similarities to other books/movies that weren't discussed in the blog?

7. Discuss how the author uses Merry's vivid and consistent use of imagination and pretend play to build her character, and how those games either impact the plot or foreshadow events to come.

8. The parents, John and Sarah, make many decisions that end in disaster. Despite knowing the consequences, are their decisions still defendable? Can it be argued that they were always acting in the best interest of both of their children? Does the parents' deteriorating relationship mirror Marjorie's descent and/or exacerbate it?

9. Many of the key scenes in the novel take place with the Barrett family sitting at the kitchen table. Discuss why the author chose such a simple setting for some of the most explosive scenes.

10. Merry has important relationships with three women: Marjorie; her mother, Sarah; and the writer, Rachel. Compare and contrast the roles of these characters, their attitudes, and how they interact with and impact Merry.

11. When Rachel implies that what happens on-screen in a horror movie is worse than what she experienced in real life, on page 112 Merry says, "What does that say about you or anyone else that my sister's nationally televised psychotic break and descent into schizophrenia wasn't horrific enough?" Discuss this quote being the potential theme of the book. Is the author making a comment about horror movies and our attitude toward them, a general lack of societal empathy, or something else?

12. Ken and Rachel are presented as, if not friends of Merry, at least the most sympathetic ears to her situation. Compare and contrast those relationships and how both Ken and Rachel go about the sticky task of balancing their conflict of interest with selling a story.

13. During the rite of exorcism Marjorie says, "I am not a creature. I'm--I'm Marjorie, a fourteen-year-old-girl, scared of everything, who doesn't know why she hears voices that tell her confusing things." Is Marjorie possessed or suffering from a psychotic break/schizophrenia? Using the quote and the evidence culled from the rest of the novel, build your case and defend it.

14. Discuss the following question posed within "The Last Final Girl" blog, comparing "The Possession" TV show to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's classic story "The Yellow Wallpaper": "Is the Barrett House telling us that our own diabolically challenged and/or mentally ill Marjorie is the young woman trapped in the room with the yellow wallpaper, or the metaphorical oppressed woman in the yellow wallpaper who yearns to be free?"

15. Is there any significance to Merry's breath being visible in the coffee shop before she leaves? Discuss the possible implications of your interpretation of the ending.

16. What book or movie or story has scared you the most?