68 pages • 2 hours read
Kennedy RyanBefore I Let Go
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. Share and discuss your biggest takeaways from Before I Let Go. Which scenes, scenarios, and relationships were most emotionally resonant, and why?
2. Compare Before I Let Go to Kennedy’s This Could Be Us. What narrative and thematic overlaps do you notice between the titles?
3. Discuss the similarities and differences between Before I Let Go and other contemporary romance novels. How does Kennedy’s title compare to novels such as Naima Coster’s What’s Mine and Yours and Tia Williams’s Seven Days in June?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. How did you respond to Yasmen and Josiah Wade’s attempts to co-parent throughout the novel? What parallels and differences exist between their family structure and your own?
2. Consider Yasmen’s and Josiah’s personal growth journeys. Which character’s quest for self-realization and healing resonated with most strongly with your own experiences?
3. Discuss Yasmen’s character arc. What role does trauma and heartbreak play in how she sees the world? Do your past experiences similarly inform your behavior in the present?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.
1. The novel explores issues related to trauma and healing. What role does therapy play in the respective healing journeys of Yasmen, Josiah, and Kassim? How does Ryan use therapy to promote mental health awareness?
2. Before I Let Go is primarily set in Atlanta. How does this setting contribute to the novel’s central conflicts? How are the characters’ identities affected by this cultural context?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.
1. The novel is told from Yasmen’s and Josiah’s alternating first-person perspectives. Explore the narrative and thematic effects of this formal choice. How do Yasmen and Josiah’s points of view create tension throughout the novel?
2. Compare and contrast Mark and Vashti. What do Yasmen and Josiah derive from their respective relationships with Vashti and Mark? How would the novel’s plot line differ without these secondary characters?
3. Yasmen and Josiah co-own Grits. What is the restaurant’s symbolic significance? How does the business relate to the Wades’ family culture?
4. Both Henry’s and Aunt Byrd’s deaths deeply impact Yasmen and Josiah. How would their character arcs differ if Henry and Aunt Byrd had survived?
5. Descriptions and images of jewelry and clothing pervade the narrative. Discuss the symbolic significance of these images. How do accessories and dress contribute to Yasmen and Josiah’s characterizations and emotional journeys?
Creative Engagement
Objective: Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.
1. Imagine that you co-own a business with your ex-partner. What emotional, relational, cultural, and financial obstacles might you encounter?
2. Create a playlist that captures the evolution of Yasmen and Josiah’s relationship from their youth through their reconciliation. Choose songs that articulate how their experiences of loss, grief, depression, and jealousy affect their perceptions of each other, and discuss the reasoning behind each chosen song.
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