Blockers

Settle in with your mug first. Which of the six people did you find yourself quietly rooting for, and what small detail made you fond of them?

Was there a moment in the reading where you put the book down and just sat with it for a second? What were you feeling right then?

Lewis is drawn to people doing unglamorous, essential work. Who in your own life does that kind of work, and did this book make you want to say something to them?

Reading about public servants, did you feel more tender toward government, more worried about it, or both at once? No wrong answer here.

The word efficiency gets thrown around a lot in this story. When has someone tried to make something in your life more efficient in a way that quietly cost something you cared about?

Lewis has a gift for making you care about a person within a page or two. Which portrait felt the most like meeting someone real, and did it remind you of anyone you know?

Several of these people stayed in jobs that got harder and lonelier. Without saying how things turn out, what do you think kept them there, and have you ever stayed somewhere for reasons you could not fully explain to people?

Lewis clearly loves his subjects. Did that warmth comfort you, or did you sometimes wish he had held them at more of a distance, and what does your answer say about what you want from a book like this?