Bambi book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Parts I to IX

1. How free is a choice to marry when hunger and the promise of writing paper help secure agreement?
2. How fair is Jarvis's insistence that work must come before love when Bambi offers practical help?
3. What does turning a dispute over money into a shared revision plan suggest about Bambi and Jarvis's partnership?
4. What might Bambi's response to poverty and a disturbing play suggest about the limits of seeking pleasure?
5. How might concern for Bambi change the way Jarvis judges his empty day at the theater?

Meeting 2: Parts X to XIX

6. When Bambi takes charge of selling the play but the couple still leaves New York, how should readers judge her efforts?
7. What might Bambi gain or lose by keeping her writing success private?
8. How does pretending to share a romantic past complicate Bambi's efforts to hide her career?
9. Where would you draw the line between useful revision and surrendering artistic independence in Jarvis's position?
10. What might a night in court offer Jarvis's writing that professional setbacks and jealousy do not?

Meeting 3: Parts XX to XXX

11. Does seeing Jarvis's poverty make Bambi's secret help easier to defend, or does secrecy remain the central problem?
12. How does the move from a holiday reunion to suspicion and planned revenge change your view of this partnership?
13. How fair is postponing the meeting until the play opens after Jarvis's confession of loneliness reveals his mistake?
14. How might practical stage work change what Bambi and Jarvis value in each other's abilities?
15. How does Bambi's hidden identity shape your response when Jarvis tells her he cares for another woman?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.