Annette Questions

•	When Joseph had to wear the star to school, he was confused about why people were treating him differently.  He knew he was the same person as the day before.  Have you ever experienced this?
•	Joseph saw himself as just a boy like all the other boys.  The way the others were treating him after learning that he was Jewish gave him a different image of himself.  Was there ever a time in your life when you realized that your blindness made you “different than others?
•	Do you think that when you were 10 or 12 that you would have been able to travel independently to a new place?  As a parent do you think you could have ever sent your young child off on a journey by themselves?
•	What did you think about the boy’s black-market business?
•	What do you think happened to the “Grandmother” from the train?

Generic Questions
1.How did you experience the book? Were you immediately drawn into the story--or did it take you a while? Did the book intrigue, amuse, disturb, alienate, irritate, or frighten you?
2.Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable? Compelling? Are they fully developed as complex, emotional human beings--or are they one-dimensional?
3.Which characters do you particularly admire or dislike? What are their primary characteristics?
4.What motivates a given character’s actions? Do you think those actions are justified or ethical?
5.Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? If so, in what way?
6.Who in this book would you most like to meet? What would you ask—or say?
7.If you could insert yourself as a character in the book, what role would you play? You might be a new character or take the place of an existing one.
8.Is the plot well-developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along the way, or do plot events unfold naturally, organically?
9.Is the story plot or character driven? In other words, do events unfold quickly? Or is more time spent developing characters' inner lives? Does it make a difference to your enjoyment?
10.Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised? Was it manipulative? Was it forced? Was it neatly wrapped up--too neatly? Or was the story unresolved, ending on an ambiguous note?
11.If you could rewrite the ending, would you? In other words, did you find the ending satisfying? Why or why not.
12.Can you pick out a passage that strikes you as particularly profound or interesting--or perhaps something that sums up the central dilemma of the book?
13.Does the book remind you of your own life? An event or situation? A person--a friend, family member, boss, co-worker?
14.If you were to talk with the author, what would you want to know? (Many authors enjoy talking with book clubs. Contact the publisher to see if you can set up a phone chat.)
15.Have you read the author’s other books? Can you discern a similarity—in theme, writing style, structure—between them? Or are they completely different?