Quiz The Book Club for Troublesome Women Marie Bostwick

The Book Club for Troublesome Women: Full-Book Quiz

Quiz

Test your knowledge of The Book Club for Troublesome Women with this full-book quiz. Questions span plot, character motivation, themes, and synthesis.

Plot and Sequence

  1. In what order do the following events occur? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Margaret meets Charlotte, then writes her essay, then holds the first book club meeting, then receives a job offer

  • b) Margaret writes her essay, then meets Charlotte, then holds the first book club meeting, then receives a job offer

  • c) Margaret meets Charlotte, then holds the first meeting, then writes her essay, then receives a job offer

  • d) Margaret writes her essay, then holds the first meeting, then meets Charlotte, then receives a job offer

  1. Which character reveals a pregnancy during the first book club meeting? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Bitsy

  • b) Viv

  • c) Margaret

  • d) Charlotte

  1. What happens to Margaret's essay in the magazine contest? (Multiple choice)

  • a) It wins first prize

  • b) It is rejected with a generic letter

  • c) It is published anonymously

  • d) It is lost in the mail

  1. Which event occurs first in the novel? (Multiple choice)

  • a) The March on Washington

  • b) President Kennedy's assassination

  • c) The publication of The Feminine Mystique

  • d) The founding of the book club

  1. In what year does the novel's epilogue take place? (Short answer)

  2. Which character takes a job as a nurse for Dr. Giordano? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Margaret

  • b) Bitsy

  • c) Viv

  • d) Charlotte

  1. What does Charlotte do with the photographs of Howard with another woman? (Multiple choice)

  • a) She burns them

  • b) She sends them to Denise

  • c) She uses them to blackmail Howard in divorce negotiations

  • d) She gives them to Margaret

  1. What is the name of the horse Bitsy treats for laminitis? (Short answer)

Character Motivation

  1. Why does Margaret initially invent the book club? (Multiple choice)

  • a) To impress her neighbors

  • b) To have an excuse to invite Charlotte over

  • c) To get free books from the bookstore

  • d) To avoid attending the coffee klatch

  1. Why does Charlotte refuse to divorce Howard for most of the novel? (Multiple choice)

  • a) She still loves him

  • b) She fears losing her inheritance and custody of her children

  • c) She is waiting for him to change

  • d) She is afraid of being alone

  1. Why does Bitsy decide to treat Delilah despite King's advice to put her down? (Multiple choice)

  • a) She wants to prove her veterinary skills

  • b) She wants to save money

  • c) She wants to defy King

  • d) She believes the horse can be saved based on her father's method

  1. Why does Margaret forge Walt's signature on the bank signature card? (Short answer)

  2. Why does Walt belittle Margaret's column at Charlotte's party? (Multiple choice)

  • a) He genuinely dislikes her writing

  • b) He is jealous of her success and wants to embarrass her

  • c) He is drunk and careless

  • d) He wants to impress the other guests

Theme and Symbol

  1. What does the typewriter symbolize for Margaret? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Her domestic duties

  • b) Her creative ambition and independence

  • c) Her marriage

  • d) Her friendship with Charlotte

  1. The recurring nightmare about the refrigerator and kitchen represents what for Margaret? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Fear of housework

  • b) Repressed trauma from her mother's suicide

  • c) Anxiety about feeding her family

  • d) Dislike of her home

  1. In the novel, the pearl pendant King gives Bitsy is inspired by which book? (Multiple choice)

  • a) The Feminine Mystique

  • b) Gift from the Sea

  • c) The Group

  • d) Herland

  1. What does the book club itself come to symbolize for the four women? (Short answer)

Synthesis

  1. How does the novel suggest that systemic barriers to women's independence were reinforced in the 1960s? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Through laws that explicitly banned women from working

  • b) Through banking practices that required male signatures and medical practices that denied birth control without husbands' approval

  • c) Through the lack of women's magazines

  • d) Through the absence of book clubs

  1. In what ways do the four women support each other beyond discussing books? Give two examples. (Short answer)

  2. What does the novel ultimately suggest about the relationship between reading and personal change? (Multiple choice)

  • a) Reading alone is sufficient to change one's life

  • b) Reading is most transformative when combined with supportive community and action

  • c) Reading is a distraction from real problems

  • d) Reading only matters for educated women

Answer Key

  1. b) Margaret writes her essay (Chapter 2), meets Charlotte (Chapter 3), holds the first meeting (Chapter 5), and receives the job offer at the end of that meeting.

  2. b) Viv – Viv confesses she is pregnant at forty-one during the first meeting (Chapter 5).

  3. b) Margaret receives a generic rejection letter addressed to “Dear Contestant” (Chapter 4).

  4. c) The Feminine Mystique was published in February 1963; the book club forms in March 1963; the March on Washington and JFK's assassination occur later that year.

  5. 2006 – The epilogue (Chapter 40) is set in October 2006.

  6. c) Viv – She takes a job as a clinical nurse for Dr. Giordano (Chapter 9).

  7. c) Charlotte uses the photographs to blackmail Howard into agreeing to her divorce terms (Chapter 32).

  8. Delilah – Bitsy treats the horse for laminitis (Chapter 15).

  9. b) Margaret invents the book club on the spot to invite Charlotte, who had just given her The Feminine Mystique (Chapter 3).

  10. b) Charlotte reveals that her parents would cut off her inheritance and fight for custody if she divorced (Chapter 26).

  11. d) Bitsy recalls her father's success treating laminitis and insists the condition can be managed (Chapter 15).

  12. Because the bank refused to open a savings account without her husband's signature – Margaret forges Walt's signature to assert her financial independence (Chapter 16).

  13. b) Walt later admits he was jealous of Margaret's success and wanted to embarrass her (Chapter 23).

  14. b) The typewriter represents Margaret's secret creative ambition and her path to independence (Chapters 2–3).

  15. b) The nightmare is tied to Margaret's repressed trauma from her mother's suicide (Chapters 7, 22, 25).

  16. b) King gives Bitsy a pearl pendant inspired by the oyster-shell chapter in Gift from the Sea (Chapter 20).

  17. The book club symbolizes female solidarity, a safe space for truth-telling, and a catalyst for personal transformation – It provides the women with support and courage to change their lives.

  18. b) The novel shows banks requiring male signatures (Chapter 16) and doctors denying birth control without husbands' approval (Chapter 5), among other barriers.

  19. Examples include: helping treat Delilah (Chapter 18), providing childcare for Margaret's New York trip (Chapter 6), contributing money for Margaret's advertisement (Chapter 34), and standing up to husbands (e.g., Bitsy refusing to cancel book club, Chapter 28).

  20. b) The Bettys' transformation comes from reading The Feminine Mystique combined with their mutual support and actions, showing that community amplifies the power of books.

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