What are good book club discussion questions for The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts?

Spoiler-free questions to get the conversation going: Where did you do most of your reading for this one, and did you find yourself wanting a blanket, a light on, or company nearby?; Before we get into it: was there a moment where you had to put the book down for a second, not because it was scary, but because it got you somewhere soft?; Kim Fu tends to make the uncanny feel domestic, like something odd happening in a kitchen. Which small, ordinary detail in here stuck with you more than the strange parts did?; The title promises vengeance, but so much of Fu's writing is really about longing. Did this book feel angry to you, or sad, or somehow comforting? What made it land that way?; This book spends time with people who cannot quite let something go. Without going too deep unless you want to, is there a place, a season, or a house that still has a bit of a hold on you?.

What food and drinks should I serve at a The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts book club?

Food: Rice porridge (congee) bar with toppings, Steamed buns and dumplings, store-bought and warmed, and Baked custard tarts with a jar of honey. Drinks: Big pot of jasmine or roasted barley tea, refilled all night, Hot ginger and honey milk, and Warm plum wine with a strip of orange peel.

Cozy night

The Valley of Vengeful GhostsBook club questions, food & host guide

Kim Fu

Picked by

Belletrist

A cozy book club night for The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts by Kim Fu. Includes 8 spoiler-free discussion questions, food and drink pairings, a playlist, and a host guide, ready to print and share.

A club that likes books with a little chill in the air and a lot of heart, and that would rather share stories than argue theses.

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Kim Fu writes with a quiet, unnerving tenderness, finding the ache and the humor inside strange premises, which makes this a perfect pick for a club that likes to talk about feelings as much as plot. It is the rare book that can be eerie and comforting in the same breath.

Why it works for clubs

Fu's prose is spare and warm, so even hesitant readers have something to say
Haunting-adjacent premises give everyone an easy entry point: what would you do?
Themes of memory, grief, and unfinished business invite personal stories
Short, contained pieces mean nobody feels behind if they only got partway

Themes & mood

eerie-tender memory unfinished business quietly strange grief and comfort

Browse all themes →

Reading level

Moderate

Warm-up questions

1 Where did you do most of your reading for this one, and did you find yourself wanting a blanket, a light on, or company nearby?
2 Before we get into it: was there a moment where you had to put the book down for a second, not because it was scary, but because it got you somewhere soft?

Digging in

1 Kim Fu tends to make the uncanny feel domestic, like something odd happening in a kitchen. Which small, ordinary detail in here stuck with you more than the strange parts did?
2 The title promises vengeance, but so much of Fu's writing is really about longing. Did this book feel angry to you, or sad, or somehow comforting? What made it land that way?
3 This book spends time with people who cannot quite let something go. Without going too deep unless you want to, is there a place, a season, or a house that still has a bit of a hold on you?
4 Fu often writes bodies and physical sensation very closely. Was there a passage where you felt it in your own body, a shiver or a held breath, and did that feel intrusive or strangely intimate?

Going deep

1 By the time you got near the end, had your feelings about who deserved sympathy shifted at all? You do not have to say what happens, just whether your heart moved and when you noticed.
2 If you could sit down with one figure from this book and offer them tea and an hour of being listened to, who would you pick, and what would you want them to know?

On the table

Rice porridge (congee) bar with toppings

The ultimate comfort bowl, warm and forgiving, and it nods to the Chinese Canadian family tables that run through Fu's work. Set out scallions, soy, chili oil, soft eggs, and fried shallots and let people build their own.

Steamed buns and dumplings, store-bought and warmed

Low effort, high comfort, and easy to pass around mid-conversation. Soft, pillowy food keeps a gathering gentle when the book turns eerie.

Baked custard tarts with a jar of honey

Sweet, pale, and a little old-fashioned, the kind of dessert that feels like it has been in the family a long time. A good landing spot for the end of the night.

To sip

Big pot of jasmine or roasted barley tea, refilled all night No alcohol

The quiet anchor of the evening. Keep it on a trivet in the middle of the table so people reach for it while they talk.

Hot ginger and honey milk No alcohol

Soothing, slightly spicy, and warming for anyone who got a chill from the reading. Oat milk works beautifully.

Warm plum wine with a strip of orange peel

Gently sweet and served in small cups, indulgent without becoming a cocktail project. Fitting for a book that keeps one hand on the past.