Secret Lives Of Husbands And Wives (37 page)

• The mean-mommy clique is part of a long-hallowed literary and film tradition that depicts the cattiness with which some women treat one another. Watch, read, and discuss other books and movies that depict similarly icy relationships between women (e.g. anything by Jane Austen, Edit Wharton;
Jane Eyre
,
Cinderella
,
Mean Girls
,
Heathers
,
The Women
; etc.). Discuss how you think these portrayals of female-on-female emotional violence affect societal views of women.

• One of the many ways that women in this book jockey for social superiority is through their baking skills (think of DeeDee’s gingerbread man triumph over Lyssa). Have a
friendly
bake-off of your own and see who can bake the best treat for your book club.

• Go to
www.josiebrown.com
for information on the author’s previous novels, her reading events, and to download additional book club questions, or to invite her to teleconference with your book club.