Fantasy · Book club
The Magicians book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for The Magicians by Lev Grossman, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant and deeply unhappy teenager from Brooklyn, who discovers that Brakebills College — a secret school of magic — is real, and that the fantasy world he's been obsessed with since childhood, Fillory (a Narnia analogue), is also real.
Lev Grossman · 2009 · 9h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
Quentin is unhappy throughout most of the novel despite repeatedly getting things he wants. Do you find his depression convincingly rendered, or is he simply complaining?
- 2.
The Brakebills sections are modeled on literary campus fiction more than Harry Potter. Does that register work in a fantasy novel?
- 3.
Alice is in many ways the more interesting character than Quentin. Why do you think Grossman chose Quentin as the POV character?
- 4.
Fillory is a Narnia analogue, and its reality is more sinister than the books Quentin grew up with. What does the novel say about what we do to childhood beloved things when we encounter them as adults?
- 5.
Grossman argues that depression isn't fixed by circumstances changing. How much of Quentin's unhappiness is the depression itself versus his choices?
- 6.
The magic in The Magicians is hard, technical, and unglamorous. Does that approach make magic more interesting or less?
- 7.
The ending of volume one is genuinely dark. Did it feel earned, or did it feel like Grossman punishing his characters for no reason?
- 8.
Is The Magicians fundamentally a deconstruction of fantasy, or is it a fantasy novel that uses deconstruction as a tool?
- 9.
Compared to Harry Potter or Narnia — books the novel is explicitly in conversation with — what does The Magicians offer that those books can't?
- 10.
Several of the characters are shown as brilliant but self-destructive. Does the novel suggest those things are connected, or just co-occurring?
- 11.
The sexual content and adult tone were controversial when the book was published. Do you think those elements are necessary to what the novel is doing?
- 12.
By the end of volume one, do you want to follow Quentin through two more books? What keeps you going, or what makes you want to stop?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Magicians?
Here are 12 book club questions for The Magicians by Lev Grossman, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on disillusionment, depression and brilliance, wish fulfillment and its costs.
How long should a book club discussion of The Magicians last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Magicians?
Disillusionment, Depression and brilliance, Wish fulfillment and its costs, Escapism, Adult reckoning with childhood fantasy. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Magicians or questions for other book club picks.
