Discussion Guide
The Hunting Wives
The Hunting Wives share more than target practice, martinis, and bad behavior in this novel of obsession, seduction, and murder.
These book club questions are from the publisher, Penguin Random House.
Book club questions for The Hunting Wives by May Cobb
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
In the end, Sophie still has lingering questions about her feelings for Margot. How did you feel about this? How has Sophie changed from the outset of the novel to the ending? What do you think her future will hold?
When the novel opens, Sophie has ditched a glossy but harried big-city life for the quiet of rural Texas. Did you relate to her yearning for a slower pace of life and her leaving Chicago for Mapleton? Have you ever made a big change like that? Did it work out the way you'd hoped?
Sophie and Graham have a seemingly perfect marriage. Were Sophie's boredom and restlessness with her life and her ensuing obsession with Margot relatable to you in any way?
Nearly all the members of the Hunting Wives-Margot, Jill, and Callie-lead lives of enormous privilege and gilded wealth, and each exhibit unsavory, selfish behavior. Did you find yourself rooting for any of these characters at any point? Which one did you despise the most, and why?
What role did the East Texas setting play in this novel for you?
Do you see Margot as a victim or a perpetrator? Or both?
Was there any point in Sophie's descent into obsession-especially when she made questionable decisions-where your feelings about her changed? Did she become harder to relate to, or did you understand in any way what she was going through?
Social media plays a big role in the story. How does it compare to your own life and your own use of sites such as Facebook and Instagram, especially when it comes to rubbernecking the profiles of other people, like Sophie does with Margot's?
One of the themes of the novel is the notion that you cannot outrun your darker urges, that no matter where you live, you can't escape who you are. What did you make of Sophie's rootless childhood as a factor that went into shaping who she is as a wife and as a mother?
Sophie's friend Erin is a constant, grounding presence in Sophie's life. What did you think of Sophie's treatment of her? And how did you feel about Erin's ultimate rebuke of Sophie?
The Hunting Wives Book Club Questions PDF
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