Hollywood, Ending
By John Green
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller!
Bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story about finding someone to trust in an untrustworthy world.
“Wise, tender and engaging.” —People, Book of the Week
“Sharply relevant in today’s landscape of constant attention and the pressure of a public life.” —TODAY, Reading Picks for Fall
“Green’s storytelling is astute, empathic, and magnetizing.” —Booklist, starred review
For rising talents Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve both been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon, the movie is blowing up, and so are their lives—in exciting, but also terrifying, ways.
John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel brilliantly juxtaposes the on-screen study of Warhol’s life at the dawn of celebrity culture with the intimate struggles of two young people figuring out who they are, both together and alone.
Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it. Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and the audacity to pursue the kind of love we all deserve.
These discussion questions were provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House.
Book club questions for Hollywood, Ending by John Green
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
Hollywood, Ending follows two young actors navigating Hollywood and fame, including the expectation of public access to their private lives. How did that pressure shape Kai’s and Juniper’s journeys throughout the novel? How much pressure do you feel to share your own life on social media?
The novel employs dual perspectives, telling different parts of the story through Juniper or Kai’s POV. How did this impact your understanding of the story? Of their characters?
Juniper is very self-aware about how others perceive her, and how it affects her career and interactions in the world. How does Juniper’s self-awareness protect her? How does it leave her vulnerable?
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Create My ClubOn the other hand, Kai often leads with an open heart. How does this protect him? How does it leave him vulnerable?
At first, Juniper and Kai seem to be quite different. How do their differences complement each other? In what ways are they actually similar?
How does Andy Warhol’s “So what?” philosophy inform the story? Do you think the book agrees or disagrees with this philosophy?
The movie Juniper and Kai are working on is Andy Warhol Never Gets Old, chronicling the end of Andy Warhol’s life and contrasting Andy’s superficial public persona against his notoriously private life. What role does Andy Warhol’s art and life play in the story?
Art, and the creation of art, is an important theme in the book. Did the book change the way you think about art and creativity? About the commodification of art?
What roles do industry professionals (publicists, producers, agents) play in the story? Were you surprised any of their choices? What could they have done differently?
Juniper and Kai were both failed by the adults in their lives when they were children. How did those experiences shape them? How do they support each other? How do they struggle to support each other?
A character exposes Kai’s past trauma to get more attention for the movie. Do you blame that person, or the greater Hollywood machine?
About the criticism that her TV show was “cringe,” Juniper says, “I am earnest. Irony bores me. And ‘cringe’ is what people who can’t feel things call feelings.” What do you think of her assessment?
In what ways do you think Juniper and Kai get their “Hollywood ending”? In what ways do they eschew it?
Which actors would you cast as Juniper, Kai, and Matthew if given the chance?
Hollywood, Ending Book Club Questions PDF
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