Boys in the Trees (Simon)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Boys in the Trees...and then take it from there:

1. Describe Carly Simon. For someone as bright, talented, and accomplished as she is, she has wrestled for much of her life with self-esteem. How might you explain that? Why was she unable to accept that she might have been, as one boyfriend described her, "the cleverest, wisest, most perfect girl"?

2. Talk about Simon's privileged childhood and her overbearing father. Then, of course, there's Simon's mother Andrea and her young lover. How did Simon's early life affect her?

3. In what way might Simon's wealthy background have hurt her professionally, at least early on. What does that say about the era in which she first began singing?

4. Who are the "boys in the trees"? What does the title mean?

5. The memoir indulges in a fair amount of name dropping, particularly regarding men. Did you find it annoying, or were you complete taken with her tales of the famous men in her life. Who most intrigued you?

6. Would you describe the writing as highly eroticized?

7. Talk about her marriage with James Taylor. What was the early marriage like, what drew the couple together, and what soured their relationship? Simon herself says this: From the beginning, James and I were linked together as strongly as we were not just because of love, and music, but because we were both troubled people trying our best to pass as normal."

8. So who is "You're so Vain" about? At least who does Simon say the song is—or isn't—about?

9. Discuss Simon's songwriting, how her songs came into being. What did her creative process entail: flashes of insight, serendipity, hard work, borrowings from others...? A number of reviewers have described these sections as the best of the book. Do you agree or not?

10. What about Simon's memoir surprised you, made you laugh, angered you...or struck you in any other fashion?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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