Discussion Questions:
1.What is a definition of feminism? Who is a feminist? What does the book tell us about feminist and feminism in the 21st century?
2. Faith and Greer grew up in different eras. What has changed in their respective youths? Can you relate to the generational differences in feminism as the book progressed?
3. What did you think about Greer when she didn’t hand over the letter that Zee wrote for Faith? Was Greer selfish? Why did Greer jeopardize their friendship?
4. Did you agree with Zee to forgive Greer after Greer’s betrayal of their friendship? Do you think if Zee were jobless then their friendship would have ended? Were you surprised by Zee reaction when Greer confessed about what really happened?
5. Which character did you like the most? Why?
6. Greer saw Faith as a mother figure and mentor. What does Greer learn from Faith? What does Faith learn from Greer? What surprises and disappoints were revealed in their relationship?
7. Why was Greer’s mother not her mother figure? What sort of relationship did she have with her mother?
8. Greer ate steak that Faith cooked for everyone when they visited her home. Greer’s decision to eat the steak showed her keenness to please Faith. Do you think Greer was insecure? What does it say about her?
9. Greer and Cory had different backgrounds but became high school sweethearts. Did you think that they were well suited?
10. Cory was devastated after a family tragedy and his grief resulted in a change of his life path. His ambitions and goals were altered by his decision to stay at home to help his mother. Do you think that was the right decision for Cory? What did you think about Greer’s reaction to Cory’s grief?
11. Were you surprised to learn about what happened to Darren Tinzler at the end of the novel? What did Greer learn from her interaction with him? Do you think that his years at college being a sexual predator was typical?
12. Did you like the ending? Was it what you expected?
13. The Female Persuasion‘s main theme was feminism, but it also had other themes such as grief, power, love, gender to name a few. What themes did you relate to the most?
14. Overall, did you enjoy The Female Persuasion? Did it make you think about women’s rights? What did you take away from this book? Who would you recommend this book to?
Belong to a book club? Check out The Female Persuasion book review! And check out other book club discussion questions!