How to Be Eaten

The book reads like six interconnected short stories. Did you enjoy this format? What did you think of group therapy as the connective tissue? What did you think of the characters interjections during each other's stories?

With six fairy tales to cover, each section of the. novel is necessarily short. Which of the characters would you most like to have heard more from, and what would you like to learn about their story?

Some of the fairy tales were fully modernized, while others retained a magical or supernatural element (for example, Ruby's wolf, Gretel's witch). Which approach toward retelling the fairy tales did you prefer? Why do you think the author chose to leave in some more fantastical elements to these particular stories? How did it change the way you perceived the characters?

Each story is told from a first person point of view, but not all of the narrators are reliable. In particular, some characters may be suffering from hallucinations or faulty memory. Do you believe that Gretel really stayed in a candy house? Similarly, do you believe that the ghosts of Bluebeard's murdered girlfriends are really talking to Bernice?

Do you watch any reality TV (in particular The Bachelor or other reality dating shows)? Did you find Ashlee a sympathetic character? Did her story change your perspective on the reality TV industry at all?

Did you guess what Raina's fairy tale was going to be ahead of time? Why do you think the author chose to keep which fairy tale she was from a surprise?

When did you figure out who Will really was? What did you think of his character and motivations?

Economic status is recurring theme across many of the stories, particularly for Gretel and Raina. What do you think Adelmann is trying to say about the intersection of poverty, class, and gender?

Discuss the different ways that trauma impacts the women in the support group, at times long after the traumatic event (as in the cases of Ruby and Gretel).

An overarching theme of the books is around storytelling and who gets to shape or tell a story, in particular the impact of a sensationalist media and online culture. Did this book make you reflect at all on tabloid frenzies and true crime narratives? What do you think is the role or responsibility of the consumer of these stories?

What do you think will happen to the women after the end of the book? Will any of them find their happy ending?

Have you read any other modern retellings of fairy tales? If so, how did this book compare?