Skip to main content

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

Someone Like You

1. Emma wants a child more than anything but she does not tell Pete about her worries and concerns. In fact, she does not confide in anyone until she meets Leonie and Hannah. What about her two new friends enables her to trust them so quickly? In what ways do they help her? What void do Leonie and Hannah fill in Emma's life?

2. In what ways does Leonie go about trying to fulfill her ultimate goal of finding true love? Why was Ray not right for her? What factors finally motivate her to be pro-active in her search?

3. Hannah, Emma, and Leonie become like a family to each other. What familial role does each woman take on? Compare their "family" to the actual families in the book. Why do these three friends need each other for support so badly?

4. At the beginning of the book, Emma is very timid and even a bit afraid of her parents. How does her view of herself change throughout the book? What happens in her life that makes her stronger? In what ways does this strength help her?

5. Hannah tells Leonie and Emma that she wants a life free of men, and wants to concern herself only with her career. What about Felix makes her change her mind so completely and abruptly? Did you believe that Felix was the right man for Hannah? Why or why not?

6. Leonie is a strong woman, but she hides behind her hair and make-up, afraid to show her true face to the world. In what ways was going to the beauty salon with Hannah and Emma a metamorphosis for Leonie?

7. Emma's relationship with her family, especially her father, takes a drastic turn when her mother becomes ill. Discuss the complicated family dynamic in Emma's family. In what ways does it change? In what ways does the shift in power change Emma as a person?

8. Discuss Hannah's return to America for Christmas. How does the trip help or hinder her? How does her gesture of coming home change her relationship with her mother? How does it change the way she views her family, particularly her father? In what ways does she fall into the same traps as her mother when it comes to men?

9. Emma wants a child very much, yet it is Hannah that becomes pregnant. How does motherhood change Hannah? How does it change her relationship with Felix? With Emma? Hannah is very worried that she will not be a good mother. Do you think she is?

10. Leonie notices Abby's eating disorder long before she says anything. What do you make of the way she handled Abby's problem? In what ways did she ultimately help her daughter? In what ways did Fliss? As a large women herself, how did it effect Leonie to find her daughter was starving herself? How did it change her image of herself? How did it effect her image of Abby?

11. In what ways is David more suited for Hannah than Felix? Why does it take her so long to realize that David is the man she really loves? Given the way that Hannah felt about Felix, do you think it is possible for her to be happy with David? Why or why not?

12. Compare Doug to the men that Leonie has her blind dates with. What about Doug is different? What about Doug appeals to Leonie? And given her strong desire to find the right man, why is she blind to the possibility of Doug as her soulmate for so long?

13. Emma is overjoyed to find, towards the end of the book, that she is finally pregnant. Hoe does she reconcile this happiness with the sadness she feels about her mother's sickness?

14. In what ways does Hannah, Emma, Leonie's friendships evolve throughout the novel? What are the things that pull them apart? What brings them together? Why is the friendship so important to all three women?

15. Of Hannah, Emma, and Leonie, which woman did you relate to the most? Which characteristics did you admire in each? In their circumstances, how could they have handled things better? Discuss the ways that these three friends are unique and what about them, as women, make them the same.

Someone Like You
by Cathy Kelly

  • Publication Date: May 28, 2002
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Plume
  • ISBN-10: 0452283388
  • ISBN-13: 9780452283381