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Book club questions for Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli explore the meaning of love and loss, grief, heartbreak, and the power of relationships with those we love. This reflective and heartrending debut will take you beyond the complicated expressions of human suffering and the courage it takes to let go of the past. A genuine display of emotions and Nwabineli’s sharp narrative will keep you turning the pages.
Someday, Maybe is first and foremost a novel about grief. Eve loses her husband to suicide and struggles to overcome the depression and trauma of not only the loss of her beloved, but also the shock of his decision and the guilt she feels for not seeing the signs. He leaves no note, gives no warning, and creates a mess of family affairs and other loose ends. In addition, his mother pours out all her anger onto Eve, sinking to horrific, but believable, depths of verbal and legal cruelty at a time when Eve is least equipped to defend herself.
As she grieves, we see flashbacks to Quentin and Eve’s love and life together. As the novel progresses, those flashbacks become increasingly more honest. Eve begins to lose the gloss that distorted her view of Quentin, and begins to accept that he was not perfect, just as she isn’t, but that both are still worth loving.
Someday, Maybe, is a GMA, Book of the Month, and a LibraryReads pick for November 2022. This is one stunning novel I immensely enjoyed reading. If you didn’t read this novel already, I recommend you to do so.
If you have, proceed reading with this blog post to get to my book club questions for this novel.
Before diving into these book club questions for Someday, Maybe, be warned that they may contain spoilers. So make sure you’ve read the novel and are ready to delve deeper into its themes and characters!
These questions will guide your discussion and help you explore the novel’s twists and turns in more depth. ❤️
The Synopsis
Here are three things you should know about my husband:
1. He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado.
2. He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because…
3. On New Year’s Eve, he died.
And here is one thing you should know about me:
1. I found him.
Bonus fact: No. I am not okay.
Someday, Maybe is a stunning, witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.
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Book Club Questions for Someday, Maybe
1. How does Quentin’s upbringing and background impact his relationship with Eve and her family, and his struggle to communicate his emotions?
2. Can you describe Eve’s grief in the story and when, if at all, does she start to heal?
3. Does the age and lack of romantic experience of Eve and Quentin play a role in the dynamics of their relationship? How might it influence the relationship?
4. How does Eve’s Nigerian (Igbo) culture shape her and her family’s approach to grieving Quentin’s death?
5. What led to Eve’s decision to keep the baby, even though she and Quentin were unsure about having children? Would this decision have been the same if Quentin was still alive?
6. How does Quentin’s death affect the already contentious relationship between Eve and Aspen? How do you feel about their behavior in the aftermath?
7. Does knowing the outcome of Quentin’s death, and the fact that he died by suicide, affect your understanding of him in the story?
8. Why does Eve become fixated on the photograph “She”? Why does it resonate with her?
9. Why does Eve choose a life drawing class instead of attending a support group, despite promising Nate she would go? How does art appeal to her and why does she stay in the class?
10. What were your thoughts when you learned that Eve had given half of Quentin’s ashes to Aspen? Why do you think Aspen tried to get more from Eve?
11. Why does Aspen not recognize the happy moments and creative achievements in Quentin’s life?
12. What role do Luisa and Drew play in Eve’s life after Quentin’s death?
13. Why does Gloria become angry with Eve, despite their close relationship?
Additional Recommendations
Hope you enjoyed my book club question for Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli! Below you will find more of my book club recommendations.
Hold You Down by Tracy Brown
New York City. Late 1980s to early 1990s.
Mercy and Lenox Howard have always only had each other. Growing up on the mean streets of Harlem with an absentee mother meant that they had to have each other’s backs. Now young, smart mothers they are determined to survive in New York City while raising their two sons, who have bright futures ahead of them.
Mercy is the quiet, straight laced hospital administrator, struggling to make ends meet. At night and on weekends, she pours her heart into her cooking and her dream of owning her own restaurant. Lenox is the diva, the wild child, looking for excitement and her big come up in life and love. Their boys, Deon and Judah, have been raised more like brothers than cousins, forging a bond that is unbreakable.
When Lenox heads down a path that she believes will bring success and power, it changes the entire course of her life and her family’s life forever. As a result of their mother’s choices, cousins Deon and Judah soon find themselves in uncharted territory.
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen
The first novel in a captivating three-book series about modern womanhood, in which a young Black woman must rely on courage, laughter, and love—and the support of her two longtime friends—to overcome an unexpected setback that threatens the most precious thing she’s ever wanted.
Tabitha Walker is a black woman with a plan to “have it all.” At 33 years old, the checklist for the life of her dreams is well underway. Education? Check. Good job? Check. Down payment for a nice house? Check. Dating marriage material? Check, check, and check. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, a “paper-perfect” boyfriend, and even a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, everything seems to be falling into place.
Then Tabby receives an unexpected diagnosis that brings her picture-perfect life crashing down, jeopardizing the keystone she took for granted: having children. With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist, suddenly she is faced with an impossible choice between her career, her dream home, and a family of her own.
With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the mom jeans-wearing former “Sexy Lexi,” and the generational wisdom of her grandmother and the nonagenarian firebrand Ms. Gretchen, Tabby explores the reaches of modern medicine and tests the limits of her relationships, hoping to salvage the future she always dreamed of. But the fight is all consuming, demanding a steep price that forces an honest reckoning for nearly everyone in her life. As Tabby soon learns, her grandmother’s age-old adage just might still be true: Black girls must die exhausted.
Thank you for reading my book club questions and happy reading! ❤️