What are good book club discussion questions for Dream State?

Spoiler-free questions to get the conversation going: Before we talk about anybody in the book, tell us about a house or cabin you have loved. What did it smell like when you walked in?; What was the moment you realized you were settled in and not going to put this one down? Grab the page if you still have it tabbed; This is a book about a place people return to year after year. Where is your lake house, the spot you go back to even when it has changed? How does it feel when you get there now?; The long friendships here are as tender as the romances. Which friendship in the book made you want to call somebody, and did you actually call them?; There is so much quiet love in the small domestic stuff, meals made, rooms shared, people waiting up. Which of those ordinary moments comforted you most while you were reading?.

What food and drinks should I serve at a Dream State book club?

Food: Big pot of venison or beef chili with cornbread, Huckleberry crumble with vanilla ice cream, and Sheet pan of cheesy potato and leek gratin. Drinks: Hot spiced cider with orange and clove, Huckleberry whiskey smash, and Boxed red in sturdy mugs.

Cozy night

Dream StateBook club questions, food & host guide

Eric Puchner

Picked by

Oprah's Book Club

A cozy book club night for Dream State by Eric Puchner. Includes 8 spoiler-free discussion questions, food and drink pairings, a playlist, and a host guide, ready to print and share.

A club that loves big-hearted family sagas and does not mind a long book if the pages turn easily

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A sweeping, tender novel about a wedding at a Montana lake house and the decades of love, friendship, and quiet betrayal that ripple out from it. It is the kind of big, warm, generous book that makes people want to talk about their own families.

Why it works for clubs

Spans decades, so everyone finds a different season of life to sit with
Friendship and marriage are treated with equal weight, which sparks honest talk
The Montana landscape is almost a character, and its slow change gives the book heart
Short, cinematic chapters make it easy to find a passage you loved

Themes & mood

Tender Sweeping Montana Found family Bittersweet

Browse all themes →

Reading level

Moderate

Pages

528

Warm-up questions

1 Before we talk about anybody in the book, tell us about a house or cabin you have loved. What did it smell like when you walked in?
2 What was the moment you realized you were settled in and not going to put this one down? Grab the page if you still have it tabbed.

Digging in

1 This is a book about a place people return to year after year. Where is your lake house, the spot you go back to even when it has changed? How does it feel when you get there now?
2 The long friendships here are as tender as the romances. Which friendship in the book made you want to call somebody, and did you actually call them?
3 There is so much quiet love in the small domestic stuff, meals made, rooms shared, people waiting up. Which of those ordinary moments comforted you most while you were reading?
4 Puchner lets us watch Montana itself warm and shift over decades. Did that make you feel grief, tenderness, or something gentler? How does it compare to a landscape you have watched change?

Going deep

1 Living with these people across so many years feels like aging alongside them. By the last stretch, did you find yourself forgiving choices that upset you early on? What softened in you?
2 The book is generous toward people who hurt each other without meaning to. Did that generosity feel like a comfort or a challenge to you, and did you want to extend it to anyone in your own life?

On the table

Big pot of venison or beef chili with cornbread

Montana lake house food, the kind of thing a crowd eats out of mismatched bowls. Make it the day before and it only gets better.

Huckleberry crumble with vanilla ice cream

Huckleberries are the signature Montana summer treasure. Frozen berries or a blueberry-blackberry mix work fine, and warm fruit under a blanket of oats is pure comfort.

Sheet pan of cheesy potato and leek gratin

A homey mountain-cabin side that sits on the counter all night and lets people keep going back. Minimal fuss, maximum nurture.

To sip

Hot spiced cider with orange and clove No alcohol

Keep it warm in a slow cooker by the door so arriving guests have something to hold. Entirely non-alcoholic and the most welcoming smell in the house.

Huckleberry whiskey smash

Berry jam, lemon, and bourbon, stirred not fussed over. A nod to the lake house evenings and the long Montana summers.

Boxed red in sturdy mugs

Deliberately unfancy, like a cabin kitchen cupboard where nothing matches. Low pressure is the whole point.