Book
Club Suggestions
The Featherbed and A Sharp Intake of Breath have been
selected for readings by many book clubs. If your club is
interested in doing a reading, the following questions may be of
interest to you to guide your discussion. A SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH
1. In A Sharp Intake of Breath, the tile is explained by Toshy when he says, faced
with a terrible dilemma, there always comes a pivotal moment when we
know we have to act. We have a sharp intake of breath and as sure as we
have to expel that air, we know that no matter what, someone’s going to
suffer. What are the ethical dilemmas faced by the characters in this story? What would you have done in their place?
2. Historical figure Emma Goldman's autobiography is mentioned in The Featherbed and now appeas as a character in A Sharp Intake of Breath. What is it about her life that you think have so captivated the author's imagination?
3. Toshy says of his sisters: Lil
was better with the big picture, the greater good, and sure, Bessie
could’ve learned a thing or two from her younger sister about the
downtrodden. But Lil? One person could be a blur
in the corner of her eye. Worse, she could sometimes trample you as she
rushed headlong at justice. Bessie was slower, more observant, and
despite a certain crustiness that we all developed
as the years hardened over us, she’d nurtured an unerring sense of goodness within her. Is it possible for the most dedicated activists to be attentive to the people closest to them? If not, is this a contradiction?4. Toshy's cleft lip is a source of great insecurity because he knows people are judged by their looks. He says, Ma
frowned on vanity, but can a beautiful person, or even someone who is
merely plain, truly understand what it means to be ugly? Not just ugly.
Different enough to draw attention to it. What are the
ways that we continue to promote and reward dominant standards of
beauty in our culture, while ridiculing and marginalizing people who
look different, including those with physical differences? THE FEATHERBED
1. In The Featherbed, Rebecca and
her mother disagree on whether or not “history and the heart” should
be connected. Children of Holocaust survivors and other survivors
of war and violence often refuse to discuss the painful events
of their past. Why do they remain silent? Does their silence help
or hurt?
2. Rebecca’s grandmother gives her mother a featherbed as
a present when she leaves her village in Russia. This featherbed
is passed on to Rebecca when she marries. Featherbeds were often
given as part of a woman’s dowry, and were frequently one
of the only comforts immigrants brought from the old country. They
were light, easily compacted, and one could wrap other belongings
inside of them. While nowadays we use them to add extra comfort
to our mattresses, they used to be used as the mattress itself
- a little softness and warmth over a hard wooden bed frame, or
on a cold floor.
In this novel, what does the featherbed represent?
3. At a certain point in the story, it becomes clear
that some of Rebecca’s diary entries are written with a specific
purpose in mind. What is the author saying about personal disclosure
and truth?
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4. Sylvia claims to believe there’s nothing wrong with prostitution,
and that running a brothel of her own would give her financial
and social independence. Rebecca is sceptical of her convictions,
but Sylvia accuses Rebecca of being prudish and judgemental. Do
you believe Sylvia? Are there circumstances where prostitution
might be liberating?
A debate rages around this issue in progressive circles. Some
believe that were it not for social stigma surrounding the sale
of sex, society would find ways to make prostitution safe and dignified.
Others believe selling sex is intrinsically exploitive and that
therefore the sex trade itself will always be exploitive.
5. Rebecca’s friend Hattie claims that being married prevents
her from being taken seriously as an individual, and from tapping
her creativity. She declares that reading Emma Goldman’s
autobiography Living My Life inspired her to leave her husband.
When Anna disagrees with her, Hattie counters with the statement, “Other
people hold you back, even if your husband doesn’t. No offence
dear, but if you were married, you’d notice that right away.” Is
Hattie making excuses for her lack of success as a writer, or was
there truth to her statement. Is there any truth to her statement
in today’s world?
Note: Emma Goldman was a world-famous anarchist, feminist, and
advocate of birth control and “free love”. While not
morally opposed to promiscuity, her definition of free love was
not about sex, but rather the freedom for women and men to love
who they wished. “How can love be anything but free?” she
wrote. Before her autobiography was published by Knopf in 1931,
Living My Life was printed in serial form earlier that year, translated
into Yiddish, in the Jewish Daily Forward. At the time, it was
widely read and commented on.
To find out more about Emma Goldman’s life and writings,
visit The Emma Goldman Papers Project website, housed at University
of California Berkeley, at: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/
6. As the story progresses, we see that Mr. Zussel and Ida Eisenstein/Weiss/Gutstein
play a more significant role in Rebecca’s life than one might
expect. What might the author be trying to say in developing these
minor characters?
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