Book Club Discussion Questions
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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Traian Popovici: The Man Who Saved Jews in Czernowitz and our BookBrowse Review of The Blood Years.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
- Rieke's relationship with Astra is arguably the most
fundamental to her sense of self. Describe this
relationship, and how Rieke defines herself in terms
of it, in Part I vs. Part V. How do Rieke and Astra
change in relation to one another over the course of
the novel?
- Consider the paratextual material (the Czernowitz
timeline, author's note, and reading list). What are
your thoughts about Rieke's fictionalized account
being bookended by this historical research? How
does this information and your own knowledge
(or knowledge gaps) about the political, military,
and genocidal events in Romania and wider
Europe during the Holocaust shape your reading
and understanding of Rieke and other characters?
What's the effect of juxtaposing details of historical
context with Rieke's narrative, which is hallmarked
by a lack of consistent information regarding what
is happening to Jews in her city and across the
continent?
- "A person has to have morals. If not, what is a
person?" (pg. 160) Describe what Opa is asking here.
What answers does the novel provide to this question?
How would you answer it?
- The novel is told in chronological order and
emphasizes Rieke's experience of time. By contrast,
how would you describe her experience of space
throughout the novel? Consider the narrative being
set in a single city, whose most drastic of changes to
its space(s) impact only its Jewish population. What
are the spaces that Rieke occupies or identifies with
in the novel's different parts? Opa says that time is
cyclical; how is Rieke's shrinking and expanding
experience of space a similar cycle? How does space
change her and how does she change space over the
course of the novel?
- Discuss the role of power in the narrative. What does
power look like? Who has it, who doesn't, and why? Is
there more than one kind of power? How does Opa's
insistence that "we can love more persistently than
they can hate" (pg. 101) relate back to power?
- Consider the role that bearing witness plays in your
reading. If you're unfamiliar with the concept and its
relationship to trauma, take a moment to look it up.
In her author's note, Elana K. Arnold describes her
novel as a mosaic of broken plates (pg. 291); how do
bearing witness and your role as the novel's reader
fit into this analogy? How does bearing witness to
Rieke's story relate to Elana's invitation for you to
"look back" and "look around" (pg. 294)?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Traian Popovici: The Man Who Saved Jews in Czernowitz and our BookBrowse Review of The Blood Years.
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