Book club questions for One of These Things First by Steven Gaines
- Some critics have found it difficult to characterize this book. Do you think this is a book about coming to terms with being gay? Or coming to terms with being Jewish?
- Let’s say you were 15 years old, and a doctor told you that it was possible to become heterosexual; do you think you’d choose to change?
- Which part of the book did you enjoy the most? The beginning in Brooklyn, or the second half in the psychiatric clinic.
- Critics have called this book both poignant and very funny. What part of the book moved you the most? What part did you find the most funny?
- Were you angry with Mr. Halliday for using the author as a stooge to go to his apartment and find his stash?
- The author speaks of events being “bershart,” or meant to be. Can you think of moments in your own life that were serendipitous or “bershart?”
- At the end of the book the author forgives his psychiatrist for trying to make him heterosexual. Do you think the author should have been angry? Do you think the
author should have forgiven this man? - As a young boy the author goes to the movies almost every day. Have you had a similar escape in your own life?
- What was the purpose of this book? What do you think the author had in mind when he wrote it? A lesson to be learned or pure entertainment?
- Did you find the writer’s voice appealing or unappealing? Which aspects of the writer’s character do you identify with most?