Skeletons at the Feast Discussion

I borrowed the discussion questions for this book from here.

1 - Do you know–or are you yourself–a veteran of World War II? Discuss what you know of the war and any reminiscences that veterans may have shared.

2 - While arguing with Anna about what is really happening to Jews, Callum says, “Suppose my government in England just decided to ‘resettle’ the Catholics–to take away their homes, their animals, their possessions, and just send them away?” What if this was happening where you live? What actions would you be willing to take to protect your friends and neighbors? At what point would the risks have been too great?

3 - On page 178, Callum is thinking about bringing Anna home with him to Scotland after the war. How does he think she will be received? Why is he troubled?

4 - Discuss the importance of hope in survival. Which character is the most hopeful? Which character is the most defeated? What moments at the end of the novel symbolize hope most poignantly?

February 2009: Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

Skeletons at the Feast

by Chris Bohjalian

From Publisher's Weekly (copied off amazon.com):

 In his 12th novel, Bohjalian (The Double Bind) paints the brutal landscape of Nazi Germany as German Refugees struggle westward ahead of the advancing Russian army.  Inspired by the unpublished diary of a Prussian woman who fled west in 1945, this novel exhumes the ruin of spirit, flesh and faith that accompanied thousands of such desperate journeys.  Prussian aristocrat Rolf Emmerich and his two elder sons are sent into battle, while his wife flees with their other children and a Scottish POW who has been working on their estate.  Before long, they meet up with Uri Singer, a Jewish escapee from an Auschwitz-bound train, who becomes the group's protector.  In a parallel story line, hundreds of Jewish women shuffle west on a gruesome death march from a concentration camp.  

You can get the book here on ebay or here on amazon.