Discussion Questions for Valid by Chris Bergeron

Questions About Characters

1. How does the main character evolve throughout the book? What key events trigger significant changes in their perspective or self-awareness?
2. How do the relationships between the protagonist and other characters influence their journey? Are there any relationships that particularly impact their understanding of their own identity?
3. Christelle, a trans woman, navigates a harsh dystopian world while cloaked in the identity she had to abandon. How does this duality affect her interactions with others and her inner monologue throughout the book?

Questions About Plot / Setting

1. How does the setting influence the story? Does the cultural, social, or physical environment shape the protagonist’s experiences in a significant way?
2. How did you feel reading a story set in such a transformed landscape? Was it unsettling? Comforting? Somewhere in between?
3. Do you think that the world Christelle is living in (in 2050) is realistic? What about the world attracts or repulses you?
4. What is your perspective on the future of AI? Is it on a trajectory to enhance our world or is the potential for it to be used maliciously to great?
5. What are the risks of using algorithms in our daily lives? Are there other groups who could be discriminated against by artificial intelligence and in what forms?

Questions About Reading Experience

1. The book uses a unique narrative structure to tell its story. How does this structure affect your understanding and perception of the main character’s experiences? Does it enhance the themes of the book?
2. This book is quite dark and yet there’s a presence of hope, a flicker of something still human and alive, despite the rise of AI and the collapse of what society was. How did your feelings about the state of affairs in the book change as you read it? And when it was finished?
3. Did reading the book impact your mood? If yes, how so? How else did it affect you? Do you think you will remember it in a few months or years?
4. Did this book remind you of any other books? Who do you most want to read this book?
5. Are there lingering questions from the book you’re still thinking about?

Questions About Author

1. What do you think was Chris Bergeron’s main purpose in writing “Valid / Valide”? How effectively do you think she achieved this purpose?
2. If you could ask Chris Bergeron one question about this book, what would it be?

Discussion Guide

Download this year’s Discussion Guide