READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
Discussion Questions:


1. Maddie loves cheese. She bakes Brie for her friends, reminisces about grilled cheese sandwiches Josh made her when they were growing up, and carries bags of Cheez-Its for Dom. What is your go-to comfort food?

2. How do you think the story would have turned out if Maddie and Dom had visited the states in a different order? If they’d had to share their perfect futures with each other on the second trip? If the secret-revealing North Dakota letter had been read earlier in the adventure rather than later?

3. Throughout the book, Maddie believes there’s something wrong with the fact that she can’t cry about losing Josh. She finds that her grief often morphs into anger and sarcasm, which she largely directs at Dom. How do you think her continued exposure to Dom affects her grief over her brother? What experiences do you have with large emotions (sadness, joy, anger, etc.) manifesting in odd behaviors that may not be viewed as “normal”?

4. Maddie is lovingly nudged (read: dared) into getting a tattoo during her visit to Kansas. Though the letter doesn’t ask for the tattoo to be related to her brother, she chooses to get Josh’s signature on her wrist. If you were going to get a tattoo honoring a loved one, what would it be?

5. When Maddie realizes Josh has left letters, at first she is ecstatic that there is more of her brother—that he might not be truly gone. But soon her urge to read them battles her fear of eventually running out of his words. Do you think leaving a task for loved ones after someone passes affects the grieving process? If so, in what ways?

6. When Maddie and Dom are hiking in the Badlands of South Dakota, the letter requires Dom to sing some of Josh’s favorite songs. If your best friends were to put together a playlist for you, what songs do you think they’d include?

7. Josh knew about Dom’s feelings toward Maddie before he passed away but made no attempt to reconcile his sister and his friend while he was alive. Why do you think he waited? Why did Josh rely on his letters? What do you think would have happened if Josh had chosen to tell everyone’s truths before he was gone?

8. Maddie and Dom were tasked with spreading Josh’s ashes in interesting and beautiful places he never got the chance to visit. Is there a place in the world where you have gone or that you wish to visit that you think would be a pleasant eternal resting place?

9. By the end of the book, Maddie has gathered a family around herself made up of people she is not related to. How do you think this affected her mental health? How do you feel about the additional chance she gave Cecilia? What are your thoughts on blood relatives versus found families?