Becoming Duchess Goldblatt (Anonymous) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT … then take off on your own:

1. ''Do you follow the Duchess's tweets? If so, does her book incorporate the same (or similar) style and pithiness?

2. What passages in Becoming Duchess Goldblatt do you feel carry the most weight in terms humor, compassion, or advice for living life as a person you wish to be? In other words, what most resonates with you? Did you have any "Ah-ha!" moments?

3. Well, just how funny is Duchess Goldblatt? What made you laugh out loud, or at least elicit a deep chuckle (or dainty snort)?

4. What does Anonymous tell us about her own life and her own vulnerability?

5. Who do you think Anonymous is, who's the real person behind the curtain? Well, of course, not WHO she is, but what she's like. Have some fun and create an identity for her. Speculate!—is the Duchess even a woman, is she really an octogenarian? Maybe she's a literary historian …or a 17th-18th century literature professor? Where do you think she lives?

6. The Duchess at one point insists she doesn't have many friends, that if you "get too friendly …they [will] inevitably drop you." But later she admits to a desire to connect with people, that she's "trying to make a new life" for herself. Do you find those revelation genuine ...or a part of her made-up character? Does her wariness of friendship feel familiar to you …or completely foreign?

7. The Duchess says that her followers confide in her about "trying to get or stay sober, or their marriages are unhappy or they have a child who’s terribly sick." Why do you think people are willing to share such deeply personal issues with her?

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

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