READERS GUIDE

Discussion Questions for Barbara the Slut and Other People 

1. In “How Am I Supposed to Talk to You?” Lala says, “My mom wasn’t one to tell me something was dangerous if it wasn’t. And she was sometimes one to tell me something was safe when it wasn’t.” What do you think she means by this? How is Lala’s mother portrayed in the story? What are the mother-daughter dynamics like throughout the collection? Did the relationships feel realistic to you?   

2. The word “slut” features prominently in the titular story and reappears throughout the collection.  What are your thoughts on the title, and the context in which “slut” is used? Is it possible to reclaim the word or recast it in a more positive or liberating light? What do you think the author’s stance on slut-shaming is? 

3. Would you consider Barbara the Slut to be a feminist collection? Why or why not?   

4. How does the author depict female sexuality vs. male sexuality throughoutBarbara the Slut? What about sexual identity? Are certain characters allowed to be more open about their sexuality than others? In what ways is this reflective – or not – of our culture today? 

5. Many of the characters – and all of the protagonists – in these stories skew young; most are recent college grads, the oldest  no more than early thirties and the youngest in middle school. Do you think Barbara the Slut is a millennial book? Who do you think the author is speaking to? 

6. Dogs are a frequent presence in Barbara the Slut, popping up everywhere from “Desert Hearts”, which concludes with the narrator adopting a shelter dog with her boyfriend, to Pearl in “Pearl and the Swiss Guy Fall in Love,” in which a skittish pit bull acts as inadvertent sex foil, to “My Humans,” which charts the demise of a relationship from a couple’s dog’s perspective.  What role do pets have in our relationships? What can they tell us about ourselves and our partners? Why do you think the author chose to tell “My Humans” from the dog’s perspective? Did the shift in perspective make you conceive of the couple’s relationship differently than you would have if it was told conventionally? 

7. Sibling relationships also feature prominently throughout Barbara the Slut. How are siblings depicted in the collection? In what ways can our relationships with our siblings influence or inform our friendships and our romantic relationships? 

8. Whether bitingly sarcastic or wryly observant, humor is integral to many of these stories. In what ways does the author utilize humor throughout Barbara the Slut? What purpose does humor serve in a collection like this? How does the author juxtapose humor with dark or difficult subject matter?

9. In “I Will Crawl to Raleigh if I Have to,” after Natalie complains about her boring, overly eager boyfriend, her mother’s boyfriend tells her: “You gotta learn these things. You gotta learn them the hard way, otherwise you don’t learn them at all.” What do you think he means by this?  Are there ways this sentiment applies to the collection as a whole? 

10. In “Pearl and the Swiss Guy Fall in Love,” the narrator muses, “I wondered if wanting to talk to him plus wanting to listen to him plus being satisfied with his anatomy equaled love.” What do you think equals love for the characters ofBarbara the Slut?