This month’s FYA Book Club selection is Sadie by Courtney Summers. Check out the discussion questions below! (Slight spoilers ahead.)
P.S. If you’ve already read the book, feel free to add any other discussion questions of your own in the comments!
Content Warning
Careful, folks. This is a book about child sexual assault, which is portrayed indirectly through the effects it has on its victims. While not necessarily graphic, it can be unrelenting. If you are easily triggered by this topic, proceed with extreme caution. But also know that this is a phenomenal and powerful book, and if you are able to read it, you absolutely should.
Icebreaker
Do you listen to podcasts? What is one of your favorites and why?
Questions
1. The narrative in Sadie is split between a transcript of West McCray’s podcast and Sadie’s POV. How did this dual narrative affect your reading experience? Did you think the podcast transcript was effectively done? How would this book have been different if it were presented without Sadie’s side of the story, or solely as Sadie’s side of the story without the podcast?
2. True crime is very popular right now, and while some people love this genre of podcasts, books, and television shows, others take issue with the idea of turning tragedy into a form of entertainment. What do you think about the true crime craze and how did it affect your opinion of this book? What do you think Sadie would have thought of West’s podcast about her?
3. Sadie and her sister Mattie had a complicated relationship. Despite their recent bickering, did you find it believable that Sadie would hunt down Mattie’s killer? What did you think about the revelation that Sadie had written the postcard that ultimately led to Mattie’s death?
4. This isn’t a swoony book, yet Summers introduced Javi’s character and a very small romantic plotline. What did you think of Javi? Were you surprised at the larger part he ended up playing toward the end of Sadie’s story?
5. There is a moment when Sadie sees a Baby-Sitters Club book and thinks to herself, “I forget at times, I was a kid, that I did kid things.” Similarly, when West speaks with Claire, she tells him, “I was a kid when I got into all that shit. I was a kid addict. I was a kid when I had Sadie. And my mother–my mother dying. I was a kid for that too…I’m not making excuses but I don’t understand why Sadie was too young for everything I put her through, but I…I was just somehow old enough for the shit that got thrown at me.” Claire and Sadie have a lot in common, but as readers, we are meant to condemn Claire and sympathize with Sadie. What did you think of the way Summers juxtaposed these two characters? How did you relate differently to them, and why?
6. Sadie meets a lot of imperfect people on her journey – Marlee Singer, Kendall and Noah Baker, Cat Mather, Ellis Jacobs. What did you think of the way Summers portrayed these characters who are dealing with their own demons, whether that be addiction, loneliness, or domestic abuse. Did you find some more sympathetic than others?
7. For the last third of the book, West seems to be catching up to Sadie as he tracks her movements. Some might view the last chapter as open-ended, while others might see Sadie’s fate as strongly implied. What did you think happened? Were you surprised by the ending?
