Greenlights Book Club Questions
Welcome to the Buddy Book Club – we have a light-hearted comedic podcast that covers a variety of books. We mostly cover fiction here at the BBC, but we were intrigued by Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights. I grew up watching U571 and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, two cinematic masterpieces. So I jumped at the opportunity to hear about the life of the coolest man in Hollywood. This book was half biography, half self-help book, and the 3rd half being a poetry book. Typically we would never be interested in this type of book, but it was a fun, great read.
We did a full breakdown of Greenlights on our podcast episode. We got to chatting about the importance of physical abuse, peeing on road trips, and speak to the younger audience about being in-touch with plants. So check it out if interested.
Our book club questions try to be a little more outside the box/comedic than your typical book club questions – hopefully you enjoy them.
Book Club Discussion – Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
-> Which of the many crazy stories did you like best? For us it was when Johan the motorcycle shop owner rents Matthew a brand new BMW motorcycles for just “stories as currency,” then gives them new bikes after they crash! What about you?
We did want the story to end with Johan being in his entourage and being a millionaire now though. Is Johan the most generous human ever, or did Matthew owe him more than stories?
-> Matthew turned down a $14.5 million offer for another rom-com, in order to avoid typecasting. Seems like his principled stance paid off. Have you ever turned down a large amount of money ($100 would be large to me, let alone 14.5 million), for a principled stance?
I’d gladly be type casted so fast.
-> Matthew claims he built a 13-story, 100-foot-high treehouse when he was 12. I’ve never seen a two-story treehouse, let alone 13. How exactly was he getting wood up that high and how big was this tree? This story true or exaggerated in his 12-year old mind?
I need some evidence of this one.
-> For gamblers: Matthew’s betting strategy involves researching obscure factors like ‘this guy’s wife is pregnant so he’s not getting enough sleep’ and ‘there was a storm so turbulence.’ When you gamble do you take obscure things into consideration, and do you also live by the philosophy of ‘If I win, I’m the smartest motherfucker on Earth. If I lose, it was rigged.’?
I gamble on sports, and by that I mean I have the Peter Griffin philosophy. But I don’t even care about the money as much as I care about thinking I am smart.
-> For gamblers part 2: After losing everything betting on the Bills, a Vegas cab driver calls Matthew an idiot during his ride to the airport. I thought he brought that story up because he ended up murdering the taxi driver, which I think most judges would have allowed. Seems like Vegas of all places this would be legal. Did Matthew and his brother show incredible restraint by not getting violent with the cab driver?
Read the room cab driver. This is why Uber/Lyft have taken over.
-> Matthew references wet dreams THREE times – none sexual – that led to Amazon trip, Africa trip, and meeting his wife. Have you ever had a premotion/wet-dream, and should we all be abstaining in hopes to have our true destiny revealed?
The only thing that happened when I had a wet dream when I was young, was messy underpants and immense shame…
-> Matthew is a foreign exchange student for the Dooley family, who give off major pedo vibes. Staring at Churchill pictures, weird religious stuff, creepy kiss scene. It sounded like the start of a horror movie. What would be your final straw that would make you leave the Dooleys house.
I’m not sticking around for the story, get me out of there immediately.
-> The night Matthew “became a man” in his dad’s eyes was when he beat a bouncer so badly “he’s now breathing through a straw” – because the bouncer put his hand on his dad’s chest. Great parenting or sociopathic?
I’m leaning towards the latter, this book did glorify violence a good amount…
-> We discussed our top 3 rom coms on the podcast (full list here), our any of Matthew’s rom coms making it into your top 3?
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days sits at #2 for me.
-> Matthew created an incredible invention to allow him to pee while driving on road trips without having to pull over. What are your best road trip pro tips?
We discussed this very thing on the pod, check out the clip.
-> Who would be your top 3 celebrity crew you would want to share a beer with? Matthew McConaughey has to be up there right?
Dman went with Tom Brady, Eddie Murphy, Phil Mickelson. Keith’ went with: Jamie Foxx, Adam Sandler, Gronk.
->Based on this book is it a bit surprising that Matthew has never written any screen plays? He seems to have a knack for dialogue and writing.
Would love a Texas centric screen play from Matthew, who else could capture Texas as a character itself.
-> How did you feel about the poetry in this book?
As someone who isn’t a big poetry fan, it was surprising how enjoyable the poetry was, listening to the poems in the audiobook also made it a bit more enjoyable.
Did we miss some questions? Reach out to us or check out our podcasts.
