Pictures of the Past (31 page)

Book Review Discussion Guide

1. Pictures of the Past
   illustrates our constant striving to maintain endearing human relationships despite the challenges of life, from the simple trials of young love to the complex terrors and heartbreak of war. Discuss the many examples of this within the book, including the quote, “How ironic that one wonderful man had changed her small world’s perception of love at the same time that one evil man had heightened the larger world’s perception of hate.”
   
2. What effect do family heritage and expectations play in a person’s development? Do “only children” bear an added weight of responsibility in a family? And just as with the lineage of a work of art, what impact does our provenance have on our future?
   
3. Readers should discuss the randomness of survival in the Holocaust. Draw on familiar stories in literature or in family histories. Does this lead only to survivor’s guilt or also survivor’s pride?
   
4. Man versus society, good versus evil, the loss of innocence… so many of the traditional literary themes course through the novel. How does Taylor fit as the archetypal “tragic hero?” Was Taylor actually a complex individual? Discuss perfection and flaws in characters.
   
5. Which characters change and grow in the story? Is Taylor’s return to Emily understandable?
   
6. Follow the examples of parent-child relationships and discuss which are the most healthy. What is the result of strong or weak mothers and fathers?
   
7. How does Rachel’s profession work well with the novel? What epiphany does Rachel have when she visits the Newport, Rhode Island mansion where she conducts her interview?
   
8. The author, herself, states that once she molded her characters, they began to tell her where they would take the story. This was especially true when she realized that Sarah’s mother, Inga, did not intend to join her daughter on the St Louis. Do you understand her action?
   
9. Explain the many references that could have created the title,
   Pictures of the Past.
   

About the Author

As the leader of an established Chicago area Book Club, Deby Eisenberg challenged herself to write a novel that her avid readers could not put down and would love to discuss. With a Masters Degree from the University of Chicago, she is a former English teacher and journalist. Inspired by so many wonderful books and formidable authors, and drawing on her love of literary research, art, architecture, Jewish history, and travel in the United States and Europe, she tried to envision a multi-generational love story that would inform as well as entertain, that would broaden the mind and open the heart. Deby and her husband Michael, an obstetrician-gynecologist, live in Riverwoods, Illinois. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Visit her at
www.debyeisenberg.com
.