12 Interesting Girl, Woman, Other Book Club Questions

Looking for Girl, Woman, Other book club questions for your next reading group meeting? Here are 12 thought-provoking discussion questions to get you guys going!

Girl, Woman, Other is an incredible novel by Bernadine Evaristo. It was hugely popular upon its release in 2019 with an excellent critical response, and it even won the Booker Prize.

Girl, Woman, Other takes a deep dive into the lives of many characters. Spanning generations and vastly different locations, the novel explores love, heartache, betrayal, family ties, friendship, toxic relationships, sexuality, intersectional feminism, and more.

It has a unique style in both prose and content and makes for an excellent book club choice. Firstly, there are twelve main characters to talk about.

Secondly, it deals with some deep (and sometimes difficult) topics, which means you can dive as deep as you want to in terms of the discussion.

You can keep it light by chatting about the characters and their motivations, or get lost in debates about the more complex themes, depending on the vibe of your group.

If you’re preparing to host your next meeting, here are twelve book club questions for Girl, Woman, Other to get the chat flowing.

12 Girl, Woman, Other Book Club Questions

Evaristo has a distinctive writing style, playing with punctuation in a way that makes it read quite differently from other novels. It feels fluid, almost like prose to read.

What did you think of this? Did you find it easy to follow? Why do you think Evaristo chose to write in this way? Would you want to read more novels written in this way?

Girl, Woman, Other follows twelve characters, which is a lot to follow in a short novel. These characters span a wide time period, and they all have their own backstories, interests, and conflicts.

Which character did you enjoy reading about the most? Do you think each character had a distinct voice?

One of the main themes of the book is the conflict that can emerge between generations. Some of the characters have very different ideals. For example, Amma, the opening character, finds the ideals held by her daughter, Yazz, to be mystifying at times.

What do you think the book is trying to say about intergenerational conflict? Why do you think it is hard for the characters to understand each other?

The book also deals with sexuality, particularly in the character of Bummi, the Nigerian-born mother of Carole. She starts up a relationship with an employee of her cleaning business but can’t deal with the stigma of having a same-sex relationship.

What did you think of Bummi’s decision to end her relationship? Do you think you would do the same in her position?

Carole (Bummi’s daughter) and her childhood friend LaTisha have very different lives. Carole is academic, works hard, and becomes a banker. Her life continues in this upward trajectory when she marries a wealthy white man. LaTisha goes off the rails when her father leaves, and goes on to work in a shop to support her children.

What did you think about the vastly different lives of Carole and LaTisha? How might LaTisha’s life work out differently if her father had stayed?

One of the more difficult relationships in the book is the story of Nzinga and Dominique. They both have different outlooks on life, with Dominique being a party girl, and Nzinga being a health-conscious teetotal vegan.

The relationship is intense from the start, with Dominique saying ‘the tension between us is electrostatic, Ams, it’s like I’m being charged up with electric volts, we can’t bear to be apart, not even for five minutes’. Nzinga has a hold over Dominique but ends up abusing her.

What did you think of their relationship? Why were they drawn to each other in the first place?

Penelope is a challenging, complex character. She has inherited some of her mother’s rampant racism and genuinely treats the students at her school with disdain. She treats Bummi terribly, although eventually, Bummi ends up confiding in her.

Later, Penelope finds out, via an ancestry test, that she is 13 per cent African. She ends up reuniting with her birth mother.

What did you think of Penelope’s journey? Was she a difficult character to read about? What did you think about the reunion between Penelope and her birth mother?

The book deals with the theme of betrayal, with many characters hurting each other or letting each other down in some way.

Which was the worst betrayal in the book? Which moment shocked you the most?

The threads of each story are detailed and complex, but they’re all connected to each other in some way, with characters finding each other over long periods of time. This all ties together at the end at the opening night of Amma’s play.

What do you think the book has to say about family ties, and the unlikely connections we form with each other? Did you find it interesting how the stories connected together?

Girl, Woman, Other covers a series of locations, from a busy block of flats near a theatre in London to a remote, crumbling farm.

Which location did you enjoy reading about the most? Which one felt the most vivid to you?

One of the big themes of the book is feminism, specifically different interpretations of feminism across generations.

The book discusses the intersections between feminism, race, and gender, with younger generations having more awareness of the trans community, and older generations fighting for equality in the workplace.

What do you think about the book’s portrayal of the complexity of feminism? Did you find it inspirational?

Evaristo won the Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other along with Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. She was the first black woman and the first Black British writer to win the award. However, there was some controversy around the fact that this prize was shared with Atwood and that Evaristo deserved to win the prize alone.

What did you think of this debate? Do you think this book deserved to win the Booker Prize alone, or do you understand why it was split with The Testaments?

Girl, Woman, Other is a great book with some very interesting themes so there’s plenty to talk about. I hope this helps to get the discussion flowing at your next book club meeting!

Megan Bidmead

Guest writer

Megan is a freelance writer based in Somerset, England. When she’s not writing about books, video games, and pop culture, she’s running around after her two kids and trying to squeeze in the occasional walk in the countryside.