Enjoy the reading and I look forward to hearing from you,
Magpie
Were you surprised by what you learned about Sarah’s history? Take a moment to discuss your individual expectations in reading Sarah’s Key. You may wish to ask the group for a show of hands. Who was satisfied by the end of the book? Who still wants to know—or read—more?
Do you believe the situation described in Sarah’s Key could ever occur in the United States? To your knowledge, has anything similar happened in the U.S.?
Do you think the Japanese Americans felt similar to “the girl” on page three when she says “Then we are safe, thought the girl. If they are French, and not Germans, we are not in danger. If they are French, they will not harm us.”
Can you recollect a time when you wanted to see you parent be brave, only to be disappointed in seeing them be fragile? Or perhaps just that first time you clearly saw your parents as “real.”
When you are first introduced to Julia do you see any similarities between she and “the girl”?
What similarities or differences do you see between Zoe and “the girl”?
On page 9 “the girl” makes a promise to her brother, that as a reader, we are not as confident as “the girl” is in the possibility of her keeping it. Was “the girl” naïve to make such a promise?
On page 13 “the girl” has revealed to her mother where her brother Michael has been hidden, and thinks, “The boy would be safe. They would never find him. Never.” As a reader how did this make you feel?
Julia begins to describe her colleagues, Josh, Bamber, and Alessandra, and part of their description consists of their nationality. Do you find it odd that Julia uses their nationality as part of their description, when she clearly doesn’t like being described by hers in a similar way? Do you find it interesting the nationalities and how they match with the personalities and how she describes them; American, British, Italian?
The age of 10 and 11 are compared and contrasted with “the girl”, Zoe, and Julia each. As a reader we’ve already been told that Zoe is “too mature for her age” (p5), and Julia had a “sheltered childhood” (p34). How would you describe “the girl”?
On page 40 “the girl” discusses how her parents had tried to protect her but ends with: “If they had told her, if they had told her everything they knew, wouldn’t that have made today easier?” When looking at Zoe and her perception of things at the same age and her clear knowledge of who her parents are and what situations are around her do you agree with “the girl”? Or do you think “the girl” was right to be kept as a child more like Julia?
As a reader are you concerned about Guillaume’s initial reaction that he doesn’t like the topic at dinner because he thinks it should be forgotten? Are you surprised to his connection to the events at the Vel’dHiv?
On pages 45 and 46 “the girl” talks about what it must be like for Michael, but goes on to say it had to be better than where she was. Do you agree with “the girl”?
Guillaume tells Julia on page 50 about the numbers the Gestapo requested but how the French wanted to deport the maximum number of Jews including the French children. We you shocked at the reason they Gestapo didn’t want the children? Why do you think the French police amended their orders?
As the family begins to make their way to the train “the girl” now is disappointed in her father as well. Why did it take this second disappointment for her to realize that things weren’t going to be the same? Why was this last thing the thing to make her realize she was “no longer a happy little ten-year-old girl”
Throughout the book, Julia discovers small plaques about Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv, but the French citizens seem largely unaware of the story. How familiar were you with the “Roundup” in Paris, before reading Sarah’s Key? How familiar are you with memorials and historical plaques in your geographical area?
Can you blame the citizens of Paris for not knowing about the event when such a small sign is the only marker of the event having taken place?
When interviewing the “old woman” she said “We did not think anything bad was going on. I remember someone said, ‘It’s the French police, no one will harm them.’ So we did not worry.” Is it okay for a people to forget “the darkest days of their country”?
Were you glad to see one more last fight from “the girls” mother? Do you think it was good for her to see that after having already thought her mother was broken? Or was this the final break for her mother?
As of page 73 you still don’t know “the girls” name. Why do you think the author make the choice to not give you her name yet?
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