READERS GUIDE
1. Old Enough explores many themes—queerness and identity, chosen family, friendship breakups, sexual assault and healing as a survivor, and girlhood.
2. Which themes resonated the most deeply with you? What was the impact of weaving through many themes at once?
3. The novel switches from past to present throughout the book—the chapters set in the past are in second person. How did this tense shift affect your reading experience? Why do you think the author made the choice to reflect Sav’s past in second person?
3. How did you feel about the character of Izzie over the course of the book? What was your impression of Izzie and Sav’s friendship? Have you ever experienced any friendships that you outgrew? Did you understand Sav’s choice to not attend the wedding?
4. In what ways does the author reinforce and challenge romance and coming-of-age tropes? If you were to write the story of your coming of age, what tropes would make sense for your story and which ones would not?
5. The phrase “old enough” appears several times throughout the book, and, of course, it serves as the book’s title. What is your interpretation of the title? In the context of this book, what does being “old enough” mean? In the contextof your life, what does the phrase mean to you?
6. Old Enough fits within the subgenre of campus novel. How has being part of a campus or school group affected the way you think about yourself?
7. What roles do Candace and Vera play in Sav’s journey through Old Enough? How are their friendships different from Sav’s relationship with Izzie?
8. Discuss the theme of friendship breakups. Has a friendship breakup impacted your life? Did your perspective on having one best-friend-forever shift as you continued to read?
9. What do you think of Lara’s evolution in Old Enough? How did her opinions over the course of the novel impact Savannah? How does Lara’s personality and worldview affect Savannah?
10. Old Enough investigates the way society addresses sexual assault post #MeToo and is a novel that centers survivors, not their abusers. What was your experience reading a novel that explores themes of healing from sexual assault?
11. Take some time to think about Sav’s romantic relationships throughout the novel. Why do you think the author chose to explore her relationship with Josh (freshman year boyfriend), Nova, and her brief encounter with Matt? Why were these relationships important to Sav’s journey through the book?
12. What does Wes represent to Sav? Why do you think she’s instantly drawn to them? Ultimately, do you think they are a good match? Why or why not?
13. Why do you think the author chose to not have Wes and Sav have sex in the novel?
14. Old Enough mixes heavy themes with a lot of humor and lightness. How did this balance affect your reading experience?
15. For most of the novel, Savannah resists sharing with her new queer friends what happened to her in high school and what she was like as a teenager. We watch her push away the integration of past and present until it overwhelms her. Why do you think this was so difficult for Sav? Did you relate to this struggle?
16. What was the reading experience like immersing yourself into Sav’s big, bisexual world? What was the impact of reading a queer narrative that doesn’t delve deeply into the process of coming out or the painful parts of queerness?
