The Storyteller, by Jodi Picoult

 

Characters
Sage	Minka’s fictional story
Sage Parents - died when 19 and 21 Pepper and Saffron – sisters   Grandmother – Minka Darija – best friend – killed in concentration camp   Adam – boyfriend, married   Helping Hands grief support group   Mary DeAngelis – owner, Our Daily Bread - former nun Rocco – barista   Josef Weber – Reiner/Franz Hartmann   Leo Stein – Office of Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Genevra - historian	Ania Emil – father, baker   Baruch Beiler – tax collector Damian – Captain of the Guard   Aleksander Lubov – evening baker/upior Casimir – brother – upior

 

For discussion:
NOTE: The page numbers are from the hardback edition of the book.

1. Do you think Sage should give Josef the forgiveness he wants?  Can she really do that?  If she does not, does that make her "just as heartless as he is" (125)?
2. One tenet of Judaism is that there are two wrongs that cannot be forgiven.  One is murder, because the victim cannot forgive, and the second is ruining someone's reputation.  How does this belief influence Sage and her decision to "forgive" Josef?
3. How well do you think the author addressed the issue of the Holocaust?
4. Jodi Picoult gives several reasons why the German people followed Hitler including, "Because we so badly wanted to believe what Hitler told us.  That the future would be better than our present" (123), and "No matter how educated you are, no matter how irrational it seems, you will follow a glimmer of hope" (112).  Do you think her analysis is correct?
5. Discuss the various characters.  Were there any of their actions that you did not understand?  Were you able to connect with them even though their situations were so different than yours?
6. Why do you think Josef did so many good things in America?  Leo thinks it was simply because of guilt (377).  Also, Sage questions if  Josef has a conscience and if not, how can he feel guilty.  What do you think?
7. Minka felt that she lowered herself to the Nazi"s level when she started to hate all Germans.  Do you agree?
8. Why did Franz switch identies with his brother, Reiner?
9. Why did the author include Minka's fictional story?  What part did it play in the novel?
10. Why did Sage kill Josef instead of turning him in which would have been more painful for him?
11. Discuss your reading experience.  Do you think the way Picoult presented the stories was effective?  Which of the story lines did you find most interesting?
12. Did you learn anything new or have any new insights after reading this book?

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at wordassociation.com, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.   Click on the upper right link.

 

 

Travels With Charley, by John Steinbeck

This is the second book in my Library Book Discussion Group's "Steinbeck Summer."   Next month we are reading and discussing The Pearl and Cannery Row.


Travels With Charley
Characters:
John Steinbeck
Charles le Chien - "Charley" - French poodle
Rocinante - camper truck


For Discussion:
NOTE: All page numbers are from the Penguin paperback edition printed in 1986.

1. As he was starting out, Steinbeck wrote about people's reaction to his trip and how many of them had a "look of longing."  Would you like to go on such a trip?  Why or why not?
2. Would you be able to survive in a dwelling as small as Rocinante?  What would you need to pack to be happy or content on the road?
3. He also wrote about the amount of litter he saw along the roads and how in other countries these items would have been reused in some way.  Has anything changed?  Do you see as much litter as your used to?
4. Steinbeck made a lot of observations about what he encountered on the trip.  One was that people didn't seem to be talking about politics (31).  Later he wrote about the same topic, "I believe this [talking about politics] was going on all over the country in private.  It must have been only publicly that the nation was tongue-tied" (199).  Has this changed since 1962?
5. Are you a "mapifier" or a "roamer" who enjoys being lost (70-71)?
6. Many in our group have traveled widely and/or have moved frequently.  What do you think about the idea of having roots vs. being mobile(101-104)?
7. Steinbeck also lamented that our country is losing  the unique speech patterns and vocabulary (106-107).   Do you agree?  If you have lived in different places in our country, what unique speech patterns and vocabulary have your experienced?
8. One of his last stops was in New Orleans where a school was being integrated.  He stopped there to observe a group of female protesters nicknamed The Cheerleaders.  His conclusion was, "These blowsy women, with their little hats and their clippings, hungered for attention. They wanted to be admired" (258).  What did you think about this episode?  Was he correct in his assessment of the women's motivation?
9. Steinbeck wrote, "I came on this trip to try to learn something of America.  Am I learning anything?  If I am, I don't know what it is" (139).  What did he learn about America?  Did you learning anything about America from reading this book?

*****
First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassocaition.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.