Funny You Should Ask

Examine Chani’s career and her associated character development through the lens of celebrity and success. What does it mean to Chani that she’s never quite sure if she can separate her own success from proximity to Gabe Parker? How does Chani’s definition of success change throughout the novel?

Discuss Sussman’s use of the additional news excerpts, reviews, profiles, and blogs—what if anything do they add to the novel? How do they help build its structure, move the plot, and comment on, complicate, or clarify its themes? Cite specific examples from the text to support your argument.

Consider the structure of the alternating now/then timelines of the story and discuss what impact it has on tension and development. How does this structure work to create suspense and add foreshadowing? Are there times when you think the structure is less successful?

Consider Gabe and Chani’s story in terms of a second-chance romance and make an argument for what Gabe and Chani learned from their first marriages that make them a better match for each other in the now. What did each character need to learn or experience in order to find happiness together? How did they grow separately but also toward each other?

Explore the roles of foils in the novel: Oliver and Jeremy are foils for Gabe, Jacinda is a foil for Chani, and in some sense the younger Chani is also a foil for her older self. What do these parallels reveal about the leads? How do they encourage the romance plot and character growth?

Discuss the novel’s engagement with The Relationship Between Fame and Fantasy. In what ways does that relationship benefit or harm the characters in the story? Cite specific examples from the text to support your argument.

Discuss the sexual double standard that Chani and Jacinda both encounter: each is assumed to be getting ahead in her career by sleeping with Gabe. You may wish to contrast how Oliver found that his sexuality impacted his career and cost him roles. How does the novel deal with these social constructs around sex and sexuality?

Watch The Philadelphia Story and discuss what infusions or inflections of this earlier film you see in Funny You Should Ask. In what ways is Chani and Gabe’s second-chance romance redefining, reacting to, or redacting the romance between Tracy Lord and C. K. Dexter Haven? What parallels do you see between the romantic leads in both works? Do you see any similarities in style?