Book Club Questions for Friends Who Move Couches
- The main characters in Friends Who Move Couches include both women and men. Do you believe women, more so than men, yearn for and value friendship? Did Nikki and the female characters value their friends more than Evy or Blake? Is that typical?
- In the book, Nikki becomes obsessed with her neighborhood ostracism and develops an unquenchable thirst to resurrect those friendships. Why was she so consumed by them? Did the loss of her sister’s cognizance due to Alzheimer’s contribute to that thirst? If she’d had another sister, would she have been so friend needy?
- Do you believe opposites attract and the dissimilar personalities of Nikki, Val, Jody, Ellie, and Evy, helped inspire the close-knit bond between them? Are you like or unlike your close friends?
- If you could bring one of these characters into your life as a friend, which would it be and why? Which one would drive you crazy? And who do you believe, of everyone, was the best friend in the book?
- The author unexpectedly fell in love with one character. (Any guesses on who?) Who was your favorite and is that the person you most identify with? What similar and dissimilar characteristics do you share? Do we gravitate more toward people who are similar to us or friends who contain characteristics we lack?
- Name a cherished friend in your life who has a personality that resembles Rock-of-Gibraltar Jody, mischievously loyal Val, philosophically witty Evy, or the wants-to-please-everyone, over-thinking empath, Nikki?
- In the novel, Nikki’s children harass her endlessly. (Who was your favorite?) Are they typical kids? Does motherhood inspire friendship? Or parenthood?
- How early did you notice Blake Anderson creeping into Nikki’s life and as Blake’s affection for Nikki evolved, were you hoping Nikki would notice him and they would strike up a relationship? Before you found out Mark was cheating on her?
- Where in the book, if ever, did you want to yell at Nikki to notice Blake the Pro? (Did you ever, for a minute, believe he was gay?) Did you ever have a character in ANY book annoy you so much you couldn’t stop thinking of them—if so, who?
- Though her antics were well intended, Nikki’s tactics usually embarrassed herself, family, or friends, but she learned from her mistakes. What was the most embarrassing situation you’ve found yourself in? Did you learn from it?
- Do you believe friends move into and out of our lives at precisely the right time? Give an example of a person who came into your life at the perfect moment.
- Have you ever toilet-papered someone’s house? (Truth, please.) If you could toilet paper one person’s house in the whole world, today, whose would it be?
Bonus question: Did anyone catch the big hint that Mark was cheating? (Hint. It’s in Chapter 11. The tail.)