Introduction

Odessa, Odessa follows the fates of two sons from a proud lineage of rabbis and cantors in a shtetl near the Black Sea in western Russia.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1: Henya Chanah: Kill the Yids
October 1908/1909

Henya is forty-two in May, when Maryusa Freide is born. They fall into calling her Marya shortly after her birth to go with her diminutive size. The midwife who had delivered all of Henya and Mendel’s children, even Yonkel, the boy who died, calls Marya a change-of-life baby. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Prior to reading Odessa, Odessa, had you heard of the Pale of Jewish Settlement in the Russian Empire and the violent Cossack attacks and Pogroms that went on there?

2. What do the women in the novel, Henya in the first generation, Dora in the second, and Roberta in the third, have in common, if anything?

3. How do the issues confronting women of today replicate the issues that Henya or Dora confronted?

4. Why do you think Dora refused to speak to Roberta of her life in Odessa? Was it the trauma of her childhood, or did she just not want to relive it?

5. Roberta and Hannah diverge in their political beliefs? Do you have siblings, or other family members with different viewpoints? How do you handle differences that arise?

6. The novel culminates with Mendel’s long lost brother’s journal. What were your feelings after reading his journal at the end of the book?

7. How did the chapter in the Palestinian Refugee Camp affect you?

8. Has the reading of this book about the difficulties immigrants must confront affected your perspective of what is going on in today’s world?

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