Our book club meeting at the old library turned into a shouting match over 'The Silent Patient'

We meet at the downtown branch on Main Street every second Tuesday. Last month, we were about 20 minutes into talking about the big twist in 'The Silent Patient' when two members, Sarah and Mark, just lost it. Sarah said the twist was a cheap trick that made no sense if you thought about it for five seconds. Mark yelled back that she just didn't get the psychology, and he actually threw his copy on the table. It got so loud the librarian had to come over and ask us to keep it down. I used to just try to keep things calm and move on, but that night changed how I run my own group. Now I start every debate by setting a ground rule: you can hate the book, but you have to explain why with a page number. Has anyone else had to set hard rules after a meeting blew up like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

bennett.mason14d ago

Your page number rule is a total game changer.

patriciah5114d ago

Wait, you actually used that page number trick? I figured everyone just skimmed past that part. How many pages did you get through before it clicked, @bennett.mason? I still can't believe something that simple works so well. It's literally just counting.

mitchell.lee14d ago

Patricia's trick reminds me of how often the simple stuff works best.