The Librarian of Burned Books, by Brianna Labuskes

 

Characters/People
New York 1943-1944	Berlin 1932-1933	Paris 1936-1937
Vivian Childs – Council on Books in Wartime Edward – husband, deceased Emmett Hale – half-brother, State Representative Charlotte – mother-in-law Theodore Childs – father   Philip Van Doren Stern – head of Council   Mary Kathleen Sullivan – Emmett’s mother William Hale – adopted father   American Library of Nazi Burned Books Hannah Brecht - librarian   Armed Services Editions   Senator Robert Taft   Althea James Joe – brother, manager	Althea James – author, German heritage The Unfractured Light An Inconceivable Dark Six-month author residency in Berlin   Professor Deidrich Muller   Deveraux Charales “Dev” – spy, turned in Adam with Otto’s help   Otto Koch – actor   Hannah Brecht Adam Brecht	Hannah Brecht – German   German Library of Burned Books   Alfred Kantorowicz – library founder Heinrich Mann - library president   Adam – brother, deceased, in concentration camp   Lucian – resistance meetings   Otto Koch   Natalie Clifford Burney – weekly salon   Bridgette Blanchett – landlady   Dev - actress
Berlin 1995
Vivian Hale Emmett Hale Martha Hale Schumacher – daughter, House of Representatives   Hannah Brecht Althea James

 

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did you like the way the author kept hinting about the story between Hannah and Althea but never told the full story until the end of the book?

2.       In Althea’s stories, “No character was ever completely good or evil, but rather they were made up of a number of traits” (page 171).  Do you like clear-cut villains and heroes?

 3.       The author used this book to emphasize the importance of reading and books.  For example:

a.       Page 69 – “a pen could destroy a nation”

b.       Page 354 – “War correspondents wrote to her that the soldiers had been allowed to bring only the most essential items onto the beaches – and for many that included thier lightweight paperbacks.”

c.       Pages 370 – 371 – “What Viv loves best, though, was the general consensus that books were not just books.  They were stories that helped the exhausted men overseas remember what they were fighting for – freedom of thought, American values, antifascist sentiment.”

Were there any other ideas you found interesting or important?

4.       In talking about the ASE project, Viv said, “I don’t think the author’s job is always to change the world.  I think sometimes it ‘s to make it more enjoyable” (page 336).  Can you think of any books that influenced your thought process or, on the other hand, provided pure enjoyment?

5.       When Hannah was speaking at the event in support of the ASE program, she said wonders “what the moment was that we lost Germany I knew…sometimes I think it was the moment right before the gasoline was poured on the books. The moment the most educated country in the world willingly, joyously, wholeheartedly turned away from knowledge” (page 362).   Do you agree?

6.       Speaking of history, she said “history is built on moments that feel insignificant” (page 363).  Can you think of any other examples of this?

7.       Does Dev’s smuggling hundreds of Jews out of Germany counterbalance her part in Adam’s betrayal?

8.       Discuss your reading experience.  Did this book make you think?  Was it enjoyable?