members found the book depressing and would not recommend it to others. However, those that disliked the story kept reading because they wanted to find out what happened to Lydia. Some members found the book a chore to read, but they loved the discussion.

Another group of members were impressed with the talented writing of Celeste Ng. They were surprised that this was a debut novel as her prose is both mature and moving. The members found the family dysfunction disturbing, but compelling and haunting. The material was complex and the group felt empathy for the entire family and yet, they found the mother and family completely selfish and self-absorbed.

The facilitator mentioned that she enjoys human behavior and patterns that exists in human interactions. She enjoys trying to figureended and some members strongly disliked the way the book ended. Overall, members were thankful that the story was not a Hollywood ending. Based on September’s book club read (a Hollywood ending), one member did not want to read the last 10 or so pages, she was worried that the author was going to wrap-up the book and all the characters into a nice neat little package—so, finally, when the member read the end, she was happily surprised that it was not a tidy ending. The ending is complex and rang true to real life, in that, issues and people are multi-faceted without simple solutions. Most members agreed with this member’s assessment.

Some members thought the book was well-written and others thought the book needed editing. One member thought