January 2025

Book Club Discussion Guide

What Should We Talk About When We Talk About In Our Likeness?

In January 2025, I asked Claude — the AI chatbot from Anthropic AI — to write a book club guide for readers of In Our Likeness. Claude reviewed a number of reader reviews, interviews, and promotional material for the book and then it generated a very good set of questions for readers. Below you’ll find a version of the guide after I made a few minor tweaks (because, while Claude is excellent at what it does, as the novel’s author I am in theory a higher authority here).

—BV

First Impressions

  • What were your initial thoughts about the algorithm's ability to change reality?

  • How did your understanding of the story's stakes change as you read?

  • When did you first question Graham's perspective on events?

Narrator's Perspective

  • How reliable is Graham's account of events?

  • What moments make you question his interpretation?

  • How does his analytical nature affect how he tells the story?

  • Does Graham recognize the ethical implications of his actions?

  • How does he justify his choices about using the algorithm?

  • What blind spots does Graham have about his own behavior?

The Central Story, aka Whose Story Is It?

  • How might the story be different from Nessie's perspective?

  • What details about Nessie suggest she understands more than Graham realizes?

  • How does Nessie drive the plot forward?

  • Why might Nessie have asked Graham to test her algorithm?

  • Is Graham truly the protagonist, or is Nessie?

Personal Struggles

  • How does Graham's experience with his mother's dementia affect his choices?

  • Does Graham's grief excuse any of his actions?

  • How might his mother's condition influence his desire for control?

  • Does Graham actually grow throughout the story?

  • What opportunities for growth does he miss?

  • How does his hesitation in both work and personal life shape events?

Technology and Ethics

  • How do different characters approach the power to edit reality?

  • What makes Graham and Warwick's uses of the algorithm different?

  • How does Nessie's original intention for the algorithm compare to its actual use?

  • How does the novel reflect current debates about AI and technology?

  • What questions does it raise about truth and reality in our digital age?

  • Who should have the power to shape reality?

  • What details suggest alternate interpretations of events?

Final Reflections

  • How does Graham's limited understanding of events impact the ending?

  • What might Nessie's version of the story reveal?

  • What questions remain deliberately unanswered?

  • What does the novel suggest about power and responsibility in tech?

  • How do personal biases affect technological development?

  • What warnings does the story offer about human nature and technology?

Questions for Further Thought

  • How does Graham's emotional state affect his reliability as a narrator?

  • What role does professional ambition play in ethical decision-making?

  • How do personal relationships influence characters' use of the algorithm?

  • Is Graham the hero, antihero, or something else entirely?