rebel readers: Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser - the discussion
discussion prompts, journal prompts and further reading for our book of the month
〰️ welcome back to rebel readers! 〰️
On the first of November I shared our first book club read - Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser. If you’ve not seen the intro post and would like to hear more about the book and it’s impressive author before going any further, you can tap the link below to catch up:
I really enjoyed chatting with everyone midway through the month in the subscriber Chat and hearing your initial thoughts on the themes and ideas in the book. It was honestly really exciting to know that people were reading along and choosing to spend time with the book and I’m so glad we’re doing this together!
〰️ discussion prompts 〰️
You’re welcome to share anything that came up for you when reading but I also thought it would be useful to have some specific prompts to focus the discussion and help everyone to reflect on what they’ve read. Feel free to answer one or more of these in the comments and hop on to other people’s answers to get stuck into the conversation together!
What was your initial reaction to the book? Did the premise of it shock you, interest you, validate you?
What’s a quote from the book that you found particularly powerful or thought-provoking? It might be one from Lesser herself or another author she references. What made it stand out to you in this way? Have you kept a note of it anywhere?
What surprised or angered you most when you were reading? It might be a particular section, a line of thought, or a realisation you came to during a certain chapter.
Was there anything in the book that you thought could have been explored further or tackled more fully? Or anything you disagreed with Lesser about?
Thinking about your own story, has this book encouraged you to reflect, preserve, or share your history in a new way? Has it made you think about women’s stories any differently that you did before or has it solidified your existing belief in their importance?
Our cultures are shaped by our stories and, as Lesser demonstrates, focusing on only one type of narrative - or hearing from only one type of narrator - creates a skewed vision of the world and what it means to be human. As we continue to redress that balance, which women’s stories would you like to see better represented, more widely read and understood?
Lesser writes about redefining our image or “hero myths and guiding stories”. Which women do you see as heroes? What qualities or achievements make them heroic to you? What lessons can we learn from them and how they lived their lives?
〰️ journal prompts 〰️
Part 3 of the book - Brave New Ending: A Toolbok’s for Inner Strength - focuses on putting the ideas of the first two parts into action by reflecting on our own stories, meditating, rethinking our own narratives, and recommitting to the need to include women in new ways as we move forward as a culture.
Did you try any of the exercises in the book? If so, is there anything that came up for you that you’d like to share? If not, will you try any of them in future?
Here are a few additional topics to journal around based on the themes in the book.
What’s a story you hold about yourself that is based on a patriarchal view of what’s possible - or appropriate - for women? How can you rewrite that story in a more empowering way without those restrictions and limitations?
Consider where you’ve been holding back your thoughts to feelings or times when you’ve been reluctant to speak up for yourself or others. How can you share more of your voice in your life from now on?
What’s a part of your story that you would like others to know? Maybe it’s a part you’ve kept hidden through fear, shame, or self-protection. Are you ready to tell that story? How might you share it in a safe, self-compassionate way?
〰️ further reading 〰️
If you’re looking for more to read, watch, or listen to, here are some recommendations connected to Cassandra Speaks that I think you’ll enjoy.
For more from Elizabeth Lesser:
Her website has details about her other books, speaking events, and more, including a sister-focused memoir, Marrow.
In a beautiful moment of serendipity, Lesser shared a letter in
’s Letters From Love newsletter here on Substack. It’s well worth a read, if you haven’t already seen it.There are video links on Lesser’s website to her TED talks and keynotes speeches
For more on women changing the narrative, changing the way we live our lives as women in a patriarchal world, and just all-round-inspirational voices, try these:
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis
Women Living Deliciously by Florence Given
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminism Forgot by Mikki Kendall
There are so many more brilliant books that could be included and I’d love to hear further recommendations in the comments too - please share yours for us all to see!
〰️ our next book 〰️
I’ll be sharing details of our next read in January and from then we’ll aim for one book a month over the next year. I have quite a few ideas for brilliant reads including more non-fiction, some poetry, novels, short stories, and more.
If you have any suggestions for books you’d love us to read, or that could be included in the ‘further reading’ section, please share in the comments or send me a message!
〰️ a winter break 〰️
I’ve decided to take the rest of December off (taking a break still feels like the ultimate rebellion to me - anyone else?!) so that I can fully recover from a winter bug, put our house back in order after more (hopefully final!) renovations, and enjoy the time to do holiday things with real-life friends and family. There will be hot chocolates, Christmas movies, at least one cheeseboard, and many, many books. I hope you’re able to take every opportunity to relax, in what can often be a stressful season for myriad reasons, and come back feeling refreshed and ready for 2025.
In the meantime, there will be an archive post going out next week and I’ll leave a few links below to recent posts that you might have missed. There’s also a whole archive of over 100 posts available for paid subscribers if you’re looking for more.
Okay, let’s get back to the book…
Share all your thoughts on Cassandra Speaks with me - and each other - in the comments!
Can’t wait to talk more about your thoughts, ideas, and ponderings. I know you’ll have some great insights to share and, if you haven’t read the book yet, I hope this inspires you to get stuck in.
See you in the comments
PS Make sure you’re subscribed to get the next book club pick straight to your inbox in the new year! If you know someone else who’d fit right in over here, I’d love it if you’d send them a link so they can join in too. Every like, restack, and share helps more of our people to find us - and gives me a little boost at the same time - so I appreciate every single one! 💋
First of all, thank you so much for starting this book club!
I'm finishing the book (yeah, a bit later than I planned, but it's ok) and I do want to try some of the exercises during a layover at the end of this month. I don't know why, but I find airports (not airplanes though) to be my most productive "outer" spaces...
PS: I was very enraged while reading part 1 of the book. I didn't realise how deep the problem was and, sadly, still very much is. But it's definitely good to know even through negative emotions.
It was the second time I read the book and it amazed me as much as the first time on how we think it is normal that history is written mainly by men. And how different things would be if women had had a voice as well.
For me this book is the accellerator of speaking up and show that things in the world can be different if we are willing to slow down, to listen to womens wisdom and to be able to see that there are two genders in this world. That women cannot compete in the male dominated system and that we need something else. I guess one of the reasons there are more women experiencing burnout is the fact that they try to cope with this system and they can't keep up with this.
For me 2025 will be the year that I will speak more loudly. I have underlined a lot of quotes from the book, too many to share here, but I have been thinking about writing a blog about the book, since the first time I read it. So there is more contemplation coming from my side ;-)
Thank you @Charlene for opening up the conversation!