The week my book club debated the ending of 'The Road' for 3 hours straight

Last Tuesday, our group met at Barbara's house and someone brought up whether the ending was hopeful or just depressing, and we got stuck on page 287 for almost an hour. I tried to move us along but then Mark started crying and everyone took sides based on their own life stuff, not the book itself. Has anyone else had a single debate ruin a whole night like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_chen631mo ago

Man, that sounds rough. Was the crying a dealbreaker or did it actually make the debate more interesting for you?

dylan_green581mo ago

yeah honestly it's kinda like when you're watching a movie and someone starts tearing up, it makes you pay more attention to what they're saying... i feel like we're so used to people staying super calm and collected in arguments that when someone actually shows real emotion it throws us off. there's this weird thing in our culture where we treat crying like it's a sign of weakness but really it's just a human reaction to feeling passionate about something. maybe if we let ourselves be more real in regular conversations instead of always trying to be stoic we'd actually listen better to each other.