Book Club Questions for Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Book club questions for Buckeye by Patrick Ryan take an in-depth look at this sweeping literary fiction story. There will be spoilers, so for more context about the book, check out my spoiler-free review first.

I found Buckeye to be quite profound and impactful, and some scenes truly got to me. At the same time, it features a ton of build-up, character development, and scene building, which is important. However, I think the story spent so much time in the past that we didn’t get much of the children’s points of view, as they grew older and became adults.

The decisions by the four adults had a huge impact on Skip and Tom. Sadly, Skip never finds out. And we don’t really get to know Tom as an adult. I wish we could have. After he learns the truth and cuts off contact with Felix, it would have been more enriching to get to know Tom then. It just felt like a lot happened to him, and we only get to understand him in phases and a few passages.

For me, that was lacking, and I think the time spent with Becky and the fraud seance guy, Casey LeGrange, went on too long. And even some of the scenes featuring Cal’s complicated dynamic with his father could have been reduced.

Let me know what you think about the book in the comments section below!

The Story

Buckeye takes place in the small fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio, which probably resembles many of the small towns in the Midwest during the early ’40s. We follow Cal Jenkins, a man born with one leg shorter than the other, and as a result, he is denied military service during WWII, which left a lasting and defeating impact on him.

Cal’s wife, Becky, is a medium and able to speak with the dead and eventually helps families connect with those they’ve lost. She is a stable and good-hearted woman, but her marriage with Cal becomes rocky when he doesn’t try to understand her.

Margaret is abandoned as an orphan and raised without a family, which is something she never recovers from, and it impacts all of her relationships. She’s determined to reinvent herself in Columbus, and when she meets the handsome Felix, who proposes marriage right away, she hopes this is the ticket to a new and happy life.

But Felix is a quiet man, full of many secrets, and not able to live the life he truly wants. His time serving in the war is full of tragedy and eventual ghosts that shape him forever.

We follow these four individuals as they reckon with decisions made that will have rippling effects on the next generation as well.

Book Club Questions for Buckeye

1. What is the meaning behind the book’s title, Buckeye?
2. This is a long and sweeping story, mainly focused on the characters Cal, Becky, Margaret, and Felix. Why was it important to the story for us to spend so much time with each character, their upbringings, and the secrets they carried?
3. How did Cal’s disability and his inability to join the war effort in WWII impact him going forward? What became missing in his life?
4. Why were Cal and Becky drawn to each other? Do you feel they are a good match?
5. What did you make of Becky’s medium abilities? Do you believe it was real? If so, why do you feel the author included a ‘supernatural’ element in a grounded story? Or do these abilities actually represent something else?
6. Margaret is an orphan and never had a family. She was cared for by Lydia, the manager of the orphanage, but that relationship still had distance. Let’s talk about how the lack of any familial bond and caring influenced how Margaret approached relationships.
7. Why did she agree to marry Felix after barely knowing him? And why did he decide to propose to Margaret?
8. We learn that Felix is hiding his true sexuality from the outside world. What do you suppose would have happened if he had been more upfront with Margaret before they got married?
9. On the same token, Margaret doesn’t tell anyone she’s an orphan. Why did she keep this a secret?
10. While Felix is away at war, Margaret and Cal meet and eventually embark on an affair. Why did they start the affair, and what did it represent to the two of them?
11. Felix is on a warship, and there he meets and connects with a fellow sailor, Angie, who becomes a pivotal relationship for him. They have an affair, but when the ship is attacked in war, Augie dies. This is the defining relationship for Felix, and he’s never able to fully grieve what happened. Let’s discuss this impact on Felix and how it changed him forever.
12. When Felix comes back after the war, he’s a changed man, depressed and withdrawn. He does sleep with Margaret the night he gets back. Margaret eventually finds out she’s pregnant, and she knows the father could be either Cal or Felix. What were your thoughts as all of this unfolded? Should Margaret have been honest with Felix at the start?
13. Felix aches for Augie, and he turns to Becky to see if she can reach him. He eventually trusts her with the truth of their relationship. Let’s discuss your take on this scene. How was it important for the story later on for the two to develop this trust with each other?
14. Eventually, Cal and Becky’s son, Skip, and Felix and Margaret’s son, Tom, become friends, although the boys have no idea they are brothers. How should the adults have handled this relationship differently once they all found out the truth?
15. It all eventually comes to a head, and Felix learns of Margaret’s affair with Cal, and Tom is Cal’s son. Margaret also learns of Felix’s sexuality. Both are equally angry for different reasons. They both held important lies from each other. Do you feel that every individual’s anger was justified? Was there any way for the marriage to ever work?
16. Why did Margaret leave Tom and Felix behind? Why didn’t she ever try to see Tom again (before the ending)? What does this say about Margaret as a whole, leaving her child behind, just like her mother did to her?
17. Why did Margaret never take to motherhood? Was it because of her chaotic upbringing, or is she too selfish? What are your thoughts on this?
18. Becky is distraught when she learns the truth and kicks Cal out. She talks with Felix, but he doesn’t want to tell Ben the truth right now. Was this the right decision, or should they have been honest with Ben and Skip when they all learned the truth? How did this generational trauma impact the boys?
19. What eventually brings Cal and Becky back together? What would you have done if you were Becky?
20. Skip is lost as an adult and eventually signs up for the military, and is sent to Vietnam, where he is killed in action. After he died, Ben learns the truth about Cal. Let’s talk about his reaction to the fact that Cal is his father.
21. Ben goes to find Margaret at one point and expects her to live a glamorous life. But when he sees her, Margaret is struggling and looks unhappy. Why did he decide not to confront her?
22. Felix is diagnosed with lung cancer, and Cal tracks down Ben to let him know Felix is running out of time. Why did Ben push Felix away for so long?
23. Margaret finally returns to the town, but it’s too late, and Felix has passed. At his funeral, Ben sees her, and she’s so shaken up that she simply apologizes. As Ben gives her a final hug, she’s unsure of what he said to her. What do you think he said to her? Will they ever see each other again?
24. The story ends with Becky and Cal still together, and their closeness with Ben. What did you think about the ending? What happens next for all the characters?

Additional Recommendations

Hope you enjoyed the book club questions for Buckeye! Here are some more recommendations, along with links to book club questions.

The year is 1975, and while the country is experiencing much change, in a small town in Missouri, tragedy continues to strike as girls are going missing. 

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, a local boy named Patch saves the girl. But it comes at a huge price. 

Lives will be changed forever with that one heroic action.

Check out my review here. And my book club questions here.

Dominic Salt and his three children live at Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Here is the world’s largest seed bank, and while Shearwater was once full of researchers, it’s now just the Salts. And soon they will be leaving as well.

But everything changes when, after a terrible storm, a woman mysteriously washes ashore. The Salts help nurse the woman, Rowan, back to health. And while the family is used to being on their own, they start to form a connection with Rowen.

However, Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And she learns this family has secrets of their own.

Check out my review here. And my book club questions here.

Happy reading!