Happy Friday!
What a friend Andras has in Polaner. I hope that we all have that one friend out there that no matter what, stands by you, will take care of you when you are sick and just be there. Also, Andras role as a go between with Paul and Elisabet shows a maturity that not many 22 year olds have these days. I always think that people in their 20s in the 30s-40s were far 'older, wise and mature' than those in their 20s now.
Oh, and I'm still not caught up but I am getting close! ;) Busy week with conferences, observations, meetings and life! Ahhh...
1. In what ways does Andras’s infatuation with Klara, as well as his hesitations about pursuing her, follow an age-old romantic pattern?
2. Do Klara’s revelations (pp. 214–34) change your opinion of her and the way she has behaved?
3. In Budapest, the Lévi and Hász families sustain themselves with small pleasures, daily tasks at home and, in the case of the men, working at the few jobs still available to Jews. Are they driven by practical or emotional needs, or both? Does the attempt to maintain ordinary life represent hope and courage, or a tragic failure to recognize the ever-encroaching danger?
4. Is Andras's belief that “they wouldn’t deport me…Not for serving the ideals of France” (p. 102), as well as the reactions of Professor Vago and Andras’s father to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia (p. 266) naïve, or do they represent widespread opinions and assumptions?
5. What are your thoughts?
And what would you like to read as a group in January? You can leave your suggestions in the comments in this thread. I will put up a poll Monday and you can vote through Thursday when I will announce the January read! Thanks for participating!
And look next week for a wonderful guest post by Amber, who shall give this book a far better discussion thread than I!
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