Character building vs plot driven novels - which one makes for a better book club discussion?

I compared two books my club read last year, one where the characters drove everything and one where the plot just kept moving, and the character heavy book led to way more arguing about motives and decisions over three meetings while the plot book got wrapped up in one night, so has anyone else found that character depth sparks better debates than a fast story?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotawells17h ago

Actually I gotta push back on that a bit because I think the plot driven book actually sparked better talks for my group. We read a thriller last year where the story just kept throwing twists and the debate was less about why characters did things and more about what we would have done in their shoes, which got everyone fired up. With a character heavy book sometimes it feels like people get stuck on defending how they see a person and it turns into a mess where nobody listens. The plot book let us talk about the world and the stakes and how the choices made sense given the situation, not just analyzing someone's childhood trauma or whatever. Did your group dig into the actual events more with the plot book or was it mostly just speed reading through?

hall.ruby10h ago

Saw an article saying plot-driven stories actually work better for group discussions.