Knit Two (Jacobs) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. "The desire to keep everything as it had once been—to freeze time—remained very strong among the group of friends." In what ways did the ladies of the Friday Night Knitting Club manage to keep things as they were? Have the changes made after Georgia's death been a positive or a negative for the members of the club?

2. "Having children had never been a question when Anita was young; it was simply the expected order of things. Marriage meant babies and babies meant marriage. Still, it was nice that things were different [now]. Could be different. Anita believed in having options. On the other hand, sometimes it was hard to know which end was up these days." Which part of being a single mother does Anita feel is "nice" and which makes things seem like "it was hard to know which end was up these days?" Is that a statement about the stigma of unwed motherhood? Or about the hectic pace of single mothers' lives? Or both?

3. In her haze of exhaustion and stress, Lucie agonizes: "When was it going to make sense? When was she going to wake up and not feel tired? When was it going to feel all right?" Is she typical of women today? Is Lucie's experience as a single mom more stressful than Anita's, where "the expected order of things" made all the decisions for her?

4. Catherine always feels out of step with the other members of the club, and at one point reflects: "She wasn’t like the others. It was the one reason why she never really fit in. They were all quite…typical. And she, well, she was different." Is she really? Why? What, if anything, makes the other members of the group "typical" compared to Catherine?

5. Lucie is forced to defend herself when her brother accuses her of being selfish and not seeing how much help her mother needs: "There's no rule that a daughter has to do more than a son, and there's sure as hell no rule that single people should give up their lives so married people get a break." Is this true? Do you think Lucie's brothers are being unreasonable? Is Lucie being punished for her life choices or simply being forced to acknowledge that she's being pulled in different directions? How would you have reacted to that conversation?

6. Did Lucie make the right decision in not telling Will that he was Ginger's father? Darwin advised her to "think long and hard before you throw a nuclear bomb into his happy family life." Would you have thrown the bomb? Should Lucie have?

7. How would this story have been different if Anita had not been reunited with Sarah in Rome?

8. When she reaches out to K.C., Catherine tells her: "I’m still trying to define myself. I embraced my independence but somehow everything is just all about me. I am totally self-focused." Do you think Catherine has "defined herself" by the end of the book?

9. Discussion of grief and loss runs through both Knit Two and The Friday Night Knitting Club. As Anita says "We grieve loss. It's not always about death." What are Anita, Dakota, Catherine, Darwin, Lucie and K.C. grieving for? Are the men of the book—James, Marty and Nathan—also experiencing grief or loss?

10. After the flood at Walker and Daughter, Dakota and Peri decide to rebuild. Is this the right decision? How would their lives have changed—perhaps for the better—if they had not rebuilt the store Georgia founded?

11. In her acknowledgments, author Kate Jacobs says "Like the members of the club, I am fortunate to be surrounded by smart, independent women who come through for me whenever I need a helping hand." What's the "club" that fills that role in your life?
(Questions from author's website.)

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