Realized I was leading book club discussions completely backward for 2 years

I always thought the point was to go around the circle and have everyone summarize their thoughts on the book. Then at our March meeting, Sarah cut me off after 20 minutes and said we were missing the whole point. She pointed out that we were just listing opinions instead of actually debating the characters' choices and plot holes. Has anyone else had a moment where you found out your whole approach to running a book club was off?

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sageburns1h ago

I used to run my book club the same way, everyone going around and giving their opinion about whether they liked the book or not. It got boring fast, people just repeating the same things. Then one night someone brought up a character's decision that made no sense and we spent an hour arguing about what we would have done differently. That was the first time I left a meeting feeling like I actually understood the book better. Now I start with one simple question about a specific character or scene, not the whole book. It changed everything.