Red Notice Book Club Questions
Welcome to the Buddy Book Club – we have a light-hearted comedic podcast that covers a variety of books. The Buddies took a rare trip to the non-fiction side of the library and pulled Red Notice by Bill Browder from the shelf. Red Notice follows the true story of high finance, corruption, and murder.
We did a full breakdown of Red Notice on our podcast episode. This episode covers a number of topics ranging from, empathizing with multi-millionaires to teaching autocracy 101.
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 Questions – Red Notice by Bill Browder
-> Bill Browder starts every piece of bad news with “I was at my $5,000/night hotel in Greece on my 100-foot yacht” or “I was at a Michelin-star restaurant I didn’t even want to attend.” Did you have the same empathy for him when the bad news is delivered in the these settings?
We found it a bit hard to relate to.
-> Bill’s biggest motives seem to be spite. Becomes a capitalist out of spite, starts his own fund out of spite, fights Putin out of spite. You a fan of his methodology?
We were big fans, spite is something that everyone can relate to, especially starting your own business to spite your old boss. I’d probably stop at fighting Putin though.
-> Bill’s method for wooing his second wife included: discussing politics on date two, bringing up her father’s tragic death, then sending her a grief book. Have you ever recommended a book as a pickup line?
We have not, but doesn’t mean we won’t start trying.
-> Bill describes Elena’s beauty as “flawless porcelain white skin and a long regal neck.” Should giraffe-like qualities be the new beauty standard, or is Bill out on his own on this one?
I was getting a little bit of serial killer vibes on this one, but I’m not going to yuck anyone’s yum.
-> Bill claims a random CD vendor at a stoplight just happened to have all the corporate financial documents they needed. Is this the least believable moment in a TRUE story, or does Russia just work different?
My guess is he actually got them from a secret contact but just didn’t want to out that person so made up this story, which is so ludicrous that maybe it is true?
->Bill constantly implies Putin hates him personally and obsesses over him. After watching the TED Talk, do you think Putin actually cares, or is this main character syndrome?
Hey listen, the great ones create stories in their mind to motivate themselves, so even if it isn’t true, I like that Bill believes it.
-> Is Bill a capitalist hero or someone who pillaged a country during chaos? Can he be both?
I don’t begrudge him for making money, but when Russia started doing Russian things, I wasn’t playing the violin for him.
-> The last third of the book focuses on Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison. It seemed a bit long in the tooth, but was important. Can we actually criticize pacing when discussing someone’s actual murder?
No comment.
-> Who would you cast in a movie version of Red Notice (not the one with the Rock in it)?
Check out our other Make it a Movie blogs.
