Exit Party

The book opens at a sparkling party in Silver Lake. If you could step into that room for five minutes before anything strange happens, what would you want to eat, wear, or overhear?

The story travels from Los Angeles to the Greek coast, a domed Paris and the moon. Which setting would you most like to curl up in for a weekend, and what would you bring with you?

The story begins in the first spring after a collapse. What small comforts or everyday rituals in the book stayed with you as signs that life still goes on?

Doubles and shadow worlds run all through this novel. Have you ever had a moment when you felt like you were living a slightly different version of your own life, and how did that feel?

Many of the people in this book are far from where they started. Where did you feel the strongest sense of home, or of longing for it, while you were reading?

Mandel often finds beauty in unsettling times. Was there a passage or image that felt unexpectedly gentle or comforting to you, even in a dark moment?

Without giving away where the story goes, how did you feel as the different threads and places began to connect? Did the book leave you feeling unsettled, reassured, or something softer and harder to name?

Thinking about the whole book, did it change how you feel about the people and places you'd miss most if the world shifted under your feet? Who or what came to mind as you read?