Virtually Perfect
Page 32
This book would probably still be a document on my computer if it weren’t for the hard work of Scott Miller and everyone at Trident Media Group. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks to everyone who gave me an insight into the life of a private and/or personal chef, especially Linda Rubin and Beth Kaufman.
To my mom: You are the strongest woman I know. I finished this book before you began one of your toughest trials to date, and you have braved it all with courage and grace. You are a rock star, and I love you so much.
And a big thanks to the rest: to Dad for the support, to Brian and Chelsea for the laughs, to Sophie for the advice, to Alex and Charlie for the joy, and to Roger for everything.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
VIRTUALLY PERFECT
Paige Roberts
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions that follow are included to enhance your group’s reading of Paige Roberts’s Virtually Perfect.
Discussion Questions
1. Several of the characters in the story are guilty of deception—both to themselves and to others. Is there ever an instance when lying is okay or even necessary? At what point does a lie cross a moral threshold?
2. Why do you think Zoe’s many followers were so willing to believe the story on her site? Was the onus on her to provide the truth or on them to seek it?
3. In what ways does the Internet make it easier to spread false information, whether it’s Zoe’s story about Marie or fake news? As a consumer of information, how do you balance skepticism with open-mindedness?
4. A few characters, like Lizzie’s dad and even Lizzie herself at times, refer to the sort of alternative medicine on Zoe’s site as being “hocus-pocus.” To what extent do you think that attitude fuels Zoe and her supporters?
5. Do you think there is a place for both conventional and alternative medicine?
6. If Lizzie’s mom, Susan, had continued to follow Zoe’s advice and the cancer ended up coming back and she died as a result, to what extent would Zoe be morally culpable? How much of the blame lies with Susan?
7. In her final confrontation with Kathryn, Lizzie says, “If you screw up your kid, nothing else really matters.” Do you agree? How much responsibility does Kathryn bear for Zoe’s actions?
8. Do you agree with Linda’s decision to tell Lizzie and Frank about her sister’s cancer treatment, even though she’d been told to keep it a secret? How else might she have handled the situation?
9. Anyone with an Internet connection or mobile device can create a blog or a social media account. Do you think that allows for more diverse voices to be heard? Or do you think there is a self-selection bias?
10. At one point, Nate mentions that before Kathryn’s “Paleo diet” she had tried Atkins, South Beach, and numerous other diet fads. To what extent does constantly changing dietary advice make it easier for novices or charlatans to seem legitimate?
11. An early tagline of this book was “Anyone can be a guru on the Internet.” Do you think that’s true?
Paige Roberts is a writer and journalist. A graduate of Yale University and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, she lives outside Philadelphia with her family and an ever-expanding collection of cookbooks.