Sample Discussion Questions for 'The Life Plan'

Q. What do you think are Kat’s strengths and weaknesses?
Like most of us, Kat’s strengths can also be her weaknesses. She is focused, goal-oriented, and determined, but sometimes to a fault. Kat fears change and this hurts her ability to see the forest for the trees. She also confuses what she thinks she should have in her life with the kind of life she really wants.

Q. What are some of the similarities between Kat and Lucy? What are some differences? How did these differences affect their experiences in Thailand?
Lucy is much more carefree and less naïve than Kat. Lucy is better traveled, more worldly, but also cynical about relationships and love. Because Kat’s love life is falling apart, she is attracted to Lucy’s carefree attitude, and I believe Lucy is attracted to Kat’s innocence. Because of their differences, Lucy is much more comfortable traveling around Thailand but is also less changed by her time there. Kat’s life and world view is much more affected by her time in Thailand.

Q. In the book we go from Washington D.C. to Thailand, and then through different areas of the country: Chiang Mai, Bangkok, the Jungle Village in Khao Sok, the beaches at Ko Phangan and Ko Samui. What did you think of these exotic locations?
I’ve been to Thailand at least five times, but some of the places(specifically Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, and Chiang Mai)  I wrote about I’ve never been to! When I was in Thailand I often avoided the more touristy backpacker places that I wrote about, but I knew plenty of people who had been there. I traveled to many other places that are not in the book and may write about them in the future. For the places I had never been to I interviewed my friends and researched. I did stay at some Jungle Huts in Khao Sok and loved it.
I haven’t been to Thailand since 2002, and that was enroute to Burma, so I expect much has changed since then.

Q .In three different parts of the world, Kat, Susan, and Kat’s mother Helen go through three different experiences that completely change their lives. How are they similar?
What I’ve found in my experience and my friends is that life does not go the way you plan it to. I had never planned to live abroad for twelve years, but I did and loved it. Divorce, finding love unexpectedly, not finding love, having children, not having children—these are all major life events that may or may not happen according to plan. Kat, Susan, and Helen all experience unplanned life changes and have to learn to embrace them in order to move on in their lives.

Q. What do you think are the motivations behind the actions of the men in this book such as Dan and Chad?
I’m somewhat sympathetic to Dan—he found himself in a life he truly was not made for but was too afraid because of Kat’s rigidity and his own cowardice to confront that reality in a mature and direct way. Chad is the guy I would have loved to see Kat be with, but it wasn’t meant to be. What is similar is that these guys are also at unanticipated places in their lives and are trying to figure out their place in the world.

Q. Do you think everyone—or every woman—has a Life Plan? Perhaps if not to the extent of Kat’s, but have you ever had one? Has it changed over time? Why or why not?
I’ve never had much of a life plan except that I knew pretty much that I never wanted what Kat did—I never wanted a house in the suburbs, a family, a serious career. I always wanted to write and travel and have been lucky that my life unfolded in a way that has allowed me to do that. When I gave up a good job near DC to live in Seoul for a year people thought I was crazy. After about ten years they gave up on me! Now that I’m back in the States I find myself married for the second time, a home owner and owning a car. But I don’t have kids and still try to get out as much as possible, which I think is different from many women my age (45). I’m much more career-focused than I was in my early thirties. In my thirties I traveled a lot and wrote some, now I try to write as much as possible and squeeze in the traveling when I can.

Q. How far would you go to protect a Life Plan?
Not too far, actually! I’d fight for my marriage but that’s because I love my husband, I’d fight for my job because I love that too, I’d fight for my students because I love them, etc.

Q. Reading Sybil Baker’s biography will tell you that she spent 12 years teaching English in Korea and has traveled extensively. How much of these personal experiences do you think influenced The Life Plan?
I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, and lived in Arlington before moving to Korea, so that is why the beginning is set there. Kat is younger and more conservative than I am, but I met a lot of women who seem to have a “crisis” right around 29—who panic at the age if things in their own life plan aren’t coming together. Lucy is based on a very good friend of mine who gave me permission to do so. The rest, well, I plead the fifth.

Q. Would this book work as a movie? What actors come to mind for the main characters?
Sure, why not? I have to admit this is one piece that I’ve never tried to cast any of the characters. Any suggestions?

Q. The book is listed as women’s fiction. What genre would you put this book in?
I think that genre, and more specifically women’s contemporary fiction works well enough. Nadine Dajani calls her novels “Women’s Fiction Gone Global.” I like that, too.