“Inside the O’Briens” Bookclub – Watch the Video on Play Back

Thank you so much to those of you who joined me for the first KOAB bookclub of 2016 about “Inside the O’Briens” by Lisa Genova. I know there were some glitches on Periscope for a couple of you – technical difficulties are the bane of my existence! I’m sorry.

We were live for about 40 minutes and I think that by the end you guys got the hang of leaving comments – yay!

For those of you who missed the live conversation, you can head over to Periscope on your phone to watch the reply for the next 24 hours. Or you can head over to Katch.com on your phone or desktop (you don’t need an account to watch), where I’ve captured the broadcast.

I would love for you to watch or listen when you have the time. (I like to listen to Periscopes on replay while I’m washing the dishes!)

I’m also hoping that we can continue the conversation in the comments below. Here are some of the questions I asked – but you can feel to riff on anything you want to say about the book!

• What did you like and dislike about the novel? 

• What scenes stand-out for you as being especially moving or pivotal? 

• Did my two favorite scenes stand out for you? {One was between Joe and JJ on a bench outside the hospital after Colleen (JJ’s wife) had their baby. As a mom, that scene really resonated with me – and I think it also did a lot to move the novel forward. My other favorite scene was between Joe and Katie, when they were doing yoga at her studio. Those flashbacks were so powerful, as Joe realizes that his mother’s grunts were really her saying “thank you” and “I love you”. As Lisa Genova wrote, ‘gratitude and love’. That’s all that really matters.}

• Did it bother you that we never find out whether Katie and Patrick have the HD gene? Do you think that they are positive? {You can listen to my thoughts on this question in the broadcast.}

• What do you think about my theory regarding Meghan? Anyone else get that feeling?

• Why do you think Patrick was so self-destructiveness / troubled?

• Do you think the novel would have been more effective if it was written in first person?

• Have you read any other Lisa Genova books? How does “Inside the O’Briens” compare for you? (I’m going to read more of her work in the future, so I’d love to get your recommendations!)

See you in the comments!

P.S. I read “Inside the O’Briens” at the beginning of the month. My memory stinks apparently, because in the past three weeks (despite having taken notes), I forgot a pretty crucial detail about Meghan – you’ll catch it at the end of the video if you watch the whole way though. And I kept mixing up Katie’s and Meghan’s names at the end. UGH! So sorry about that!