“The Rummy Club" — Book Club Discussion
Questions/Prompts for your Book Club Discussions
Official trailer for The Rummy Club, a novel by Anoop Ahuja Judge. Published by Daggerhorn Publishing. The Rummy Club is Joy Luck Club with an Indian cultural twist. Video production by Kim McDougall in association with Readers' Favorite.
1. “I was always the outcast. At times, I felt like an untouchable.” (pg. 1). Is Divya justified in feeling that the other women treated her as an outcast and an outsider?
2. Do you think Divya was right in accusing Alka of pushing Krishna so hard that she drove him to commit suicide? What does this tell us about Alka’s character?
3. Do you think Mini and Tom’s relationship could have survived if Mini had tried harder to understand Tom? What does this relationship reveal about Mini’s emotional ties to her old life and her ethnicity?
4. Which of the characters do you like the most and why?
5. What do you believe Alka, Priya, Divya and Mini are feeling and thinking at the end of the novel? Were you surprised at the ending? Did you find it satisfying? What do you imagine happens to Mini or Divya next?
6. When lying in coma, Krishna says “Mummy Daddy. You tell me why I should wake up. Give me a reason why I should reenter your world of silences. Of brooding glances and words unspoken.” (pg. 243). Does this description capture the complex feelings Krishna experiences in his own home? Is it understandable in light of Alka’s and Raj’s relationship?
7. The novel present many kinds of parents–present and absent, supportive and distant. What questions does the novel raise about the challenges and real meaning of being a parent?
8. The details of the characters’ relationship to each other emerge through various retellings set in different times and seen through different points of view. Why do you think the author chose to tell the story in this way? How does this method increase the power of the narrative?
9. If there was a sequel to the novel, do you see Krishna (Alka’s son) and Anya (Priya’s daughter) getting together?
10. What insights does the author offer into the Indian American diaspora in the context of 21st century America? Did any aspects of the immigrant experience come as a surprise to you?
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