Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr

Book Club Discussion Questions

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Goddess is filled with empowered female characters: Bina, Zelda, Anna, Sienna. How does each woman use her "power" both in her own life and in the plot of the book?
2. Revenge is a powerful theme threading through the novel. Can one take vengeance too far?
3. Lena justifies her violent past to the young actress Sienna Hayes, maintaining that she is an avenger and not a psychopath. "Survival always comes down to a choice, never a compromise." Do you believe this?
4. There's a difference between revenge and redemption – and yet they often go together. Can you achieve redemption without extracting revenge?
5. In the Warsaw Ghetto and in many arenas in life, women are the true heroes. What are the examples in our own time of women taking charge and effecting change?
6. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is considered one of the most important Jewish revolts during WWII – As Zelda says, fighting back is itself the win. What does she mean by that?
7. Why is Zelda the voice inside Bina/Lena's head, long after the war was over? Why was it crucial that Lena Browning have the last act, the last word? And once she did, was she really at peace?
8. Bina says she was "a woman born to become anyone other than who she really is…" What does she mean by this? And, is there any point in the book when she is NOT acting?
9. Aleksander chose love as his means of survival and revenge after the war. Bina chose payback. Who ultimately wins and why?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Harper. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.