READERS GUIDE

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Whom do you relate to more–Eva or Lainey? Who do you think you’d be better friends with?

2. Why do you think it was so difficult for Eva and Joseph to reveal their true identities to each other? Have you ever been in a similar situation?

3. In our modern society, people are working increasingly longer hours until they have no semblance of a normal life, like Joseph does. Why do you think this is so? What inspired Joseph to change his life?

4. Why does Eva put up with people she’d rather not be around, like Dermot and Greg? Is she just too nice, or does she sell herself short? Where do you think her self-doubt stems from?

5. “Pretending to be Niamh made [Eva] feel different. It was like slipping on a confidence cloak, an invisible shield between her and the rest of the world” (page 196). Have you ever wanted to assume a new identity? If so, why, and under what circumstances?

6. Is Eva’s jealousy and suspicion of Lainey justified?

7. Travel is a main component of this novel, and acts as an opportunity for second chances. What is it about being in a new place that makes people shed their skins and act differently? What is the most enlightening travel experience you’ve ever had?

8. How do you think Joseph’s estrangement from his father has affected him? Do you blame his parents for not telling him the truth all this time?

9. Eva finally comes clean about her identity to Joseph, and is able to be her true self–but do you think she changed at all over the course of the trip regardless?

10. When Joseph finds out his father is an artist, his own artistic tendencies suddenly make sense. Do you think artistic talent is genetically inherited? What tendencies have been passed down to you from your family?

11. How does this novel compare to other books by Monica McInerney that you’ve read?

12. What did you take away from Upside Down Inside Out? Were you transported? Satisfied? Inspired?