Help! I’m Alive Book Club Guide

Are you part of a book club or looking to start one? Help! I’m Alive by Gurjinder Basran makes a great book club pick!

When a teen dies, four people are left spinning, each trying to deal with their grief and face the dissatisfactions of their lives. Fresh, insightful, and propulsive, Help! I’m Alive sensitively and authentically explores the challenges of death . . . and of living on.

Book Club Questions

  1. Why do you think the author chose to have multiple narrators? How did that change your reading experience? How did the story change by including an adult voice along with the three young people?
  1. Do you think grieving is harder in the digital era? Why or why not?
  1. Did reading Jay’s diary entries give you a new sense of him as a person?
  1. Why do you think Anik’s walk resonated with people online? What did it offer Winona, Ash and Rose? Does it appeal to you? 
  1. What do you think benefited Anik more: the walk itself or meeting Rose?
  1. At the baby shower, Pavan tells another mother her son will break her heart. Do you think that’s true? Is heartbreak an inevitable part of parenting?
  1. Do you think Pavan’s forgery offered consolation to Jay’s mom? Or is she interfering too much?
  1. When she’s making her TV installation, Winona asks, “Was it enough for it to exist without a purpose, and if it was, could that be true for people too?” What do you think? Do any of the characters find a purpose?
  1. Why is Ash so invested in saving the whale? What do you think it means to him?
  1. Why do you think the author ended the book on a moment of natural beauty?
  1. While much of Help! I’m Alive focuses on difficult experiences, was there anything you found hopeful?

Download the complete Help! I’m Alive Book Club Guide here.

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