For book clubs

If your book club would like Michael to join you by video, phone, or in person when he’s in your area, send him a note. Discussion questions for each of his novels are below.

A Song at the Edge of the World The Wanting Not Me

Cover of A Song at the Edge of the World

Questions for A Song at the Edge of the World

These questions discuss the ending.

Yehuda Halevi was a real person, and the poems in the book are really his. Yet this is a work of fiction and most everything is made up. Why did the author choose to mix the real and the imaginary in such a way that it’s impossible to tell one from the other?
Love is an abiding theme and Hoda is a centerpiece in this novel. Discuss her role and the role of the maid Poppy and the father Yaakov in discussing the power of love to heal... and destroy.
Another theme is belonging. Or rather not belonging. It begins with Halevi, but you see it in the lives of Menachem of Cavaillon, Hoda, Elizabeta, Gitl, Hindy, and even Sam – in other words, in every age and circumstance. What is this struggle to belong? And how does it play itself out in the novel?
Elizabeta is an artist who represents the new order of the Enlightenment under which we all live today and Dudi is a merchant of exquisite fabrics who represents traditional values. What brings them together and what keeps them apart? What is the lesson you draw from their story?
The author uses what has come to be called magical realism in several sections: talking animals, taverns that appear one evening and can never be found again, delusions of young love in an old man. What purpose does this serve? The author seems to be asking, in what way does poetic vision enhance lived experience? Have you ever experienced something like that in your own life?
Who is the old man in the cabin on the hill? Does your understanding of him change over time?
Jacob of Zaragoza is on a quest, but is thwarted at every turn in a comical way. He remains funny, but at some point something shifts within him. What makes that happen? What, ultimately, is his role, and how does he find the purpose of his life?
There are quite a few storytellers in this book. The old man, Jacob of Zaragoza, Halevi, the Magi, other characters, and, of course, the narrator. So, whose story is this?
Why does Jacob take up the mantle of storyteller and finish the story of Yehuda Halevi even though he couldn’t possibly know it? And why is Jacob the one to understand the meaning of Halevi’s quest?
Hindy runs blindly to save her father and her burnt village and later to save her brother. Yaakov, Hoda’s father, blinds himself to the reality of Poppy’s murderous love. Jacob of Zaragoza tells us that a poet is a poet only because he willfully blinds himself to reality. Why is blindness such an important theme in the book?
Of the poems in this book, which speak to you the most? Which do you find troubling? Which do you find revelatory? Which makes you feel good, which bad? And why?
The novel spans a thousand years and many geographical locations. Which stories stand out for you as the most vivid? What similarities and differences drive the novel forward?
There have been several “golden ages” of Jewish diaspora described in this book. What is the author suggesting by focusing on these moments in time?
Andalusia seems like an Eden on earth, one that Halevi cherishes and doesn’t want to leave. Why, then, does he leave? What drives him to go to a desolate, hostile and foreign land, and why does he, then, once in Egypt, hesitate to finish his journey?
Halevi, Elizabeta, Menachem, Sam, and Hindy are blessed with great talents in many fields. Why does this not suffice to make them happy?
Halevi has a dark side. He abandons his wife, his child, his grandchild, and finally his son-in-law. Is his spiritual salvation really that important? Shouldn’t he have stayed home and been a good father and husband? When we are faced with such choices, what is the right thing to do?
How do you feel about the excerpt of Leon Pinsker’s Auto-Emancipation, and why did the author create a totally fictional story that led to its creation?
The writing in this book is highly lyrical, sometimes poetic, and sometimes employs difficult vocabulary. How does this style impact the story and how did you feel reading it?
The author sometimes interrupts the narrative with comments or explanations. Why does he do this? Does it add or subtract from the book?
The reveal at the end is central to the novel, yet comes as a kind of afterthought. How did that affect your reading of the story? Why is it placed at the end, and not at the beginning?
Andalusian Hebrew poetry seems to make no distinction between the sacred and profane. But in the stories that follow – Menachem of Cavaillon’s fascination with a young girl, David the Hassid seduced by power and lies, Poppy’s unnatural love of Hoda, Elizabeta’s embrace of the modern and passion for a lover she cannot have, Hindy’s self-destructive desire for revenge, Sam’s obsession with success – the profane destroys and the sacred is silenced. What do we make of this?
Why do you think the only thing that remains constant and pure is a collection of poetry that few can read and fewer yet can understand?

Questions for The Wanting

Why does the author place the action in three distinct locations – Israel, The Territories, and Moscow? What impact did that have on you as readers? Likewise, the action takes place in different time periods, none of them present – how did that impact your understanding of the story?
One of the central themes of the novel is the search for, or the defense of, home. How does this theme play out for each of the characters? What does it mean to them, and to you, to have a “home,” and why is it so difficult to achieve?
What other themes do you recognize in the novel?
The book opens when a suicide bomber kills scores of people outside Roman Guttman’s office. Why do you think the bombing is only reported, and not actually witnessed in the novel? What do you make of the head floating past Guttman’s window?
What role does God play in the novel? Is He a character? A figment of the imagination? An ironic presence? A true force?
How did you feel about Amir and did it change throughout the book? What did you take from the fact that Amir is an artist in the making? What do you think really drives Amir to commit such a destructive act? Can you imagine yourself or anyone you know driven to such an end?
How was Anyusha, the daughter, impacted by the bombing? Given that she was already under the influence of Rabbi Keren and Miriam, do you think she would have gone down the same path if the bombing had never happened? How did you perceive to her involvement in the “Second Temple” movement?
Anyusha hears a multitude of confusing voices – but in the end hears only one voice. What are these voices? What are they trying to tell her? Why does she want them to disappear? How do they shape her?
Collette has ethical choices to make regarding her unborn daughter. What were your feelings about Collette? Did she make the right decisions in difficult circumstances or not? Which is more important: one’s family or ones ideals?
Another theme in the book is that of the “absent parent” – the chasm between mother and daughter, father and son, which exists for Amir, Roman, and especially Anyusha, who experiences her mother’s physical absence and her father’s spiritual emptiness. Do you think it is possible to recapture what is lost in such cases? Are there positive aspects to such a quest?
Various ideologies play an important role in the novel: Communism, Zionism, Islamic fundamentalism, Palestinian nationalism. In what ways are the characters affected by their ideologies? In what ways do these ideologies ennoble the human spirit and in what ways do they crush the human spirit?
The author draws a vivid picture of life in the Soviet Union, including a trial scene and a description of prison. What are your memories or associations with this period, and do you see any connection to the present? Is it possible to escape our pasts or are we doomed to act them out over and over?
Does the author take a position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? If so, what do you think it is? If not, why not, and how does it make you feel about the book?
The author employs various genres within the novel: the play form, stories within stories, a short fairy tale, talking animals and the like. Why do you think he does this, and what was the impact on you, the reader?

Questions for Not Me

Memory, or false memory, plays an important part in this story. What is the nature of memory? How are we fooled by it? How does it help us?
What traps and opportunities does memory create for Michael and for the people around him?
There is immense controversy about the State of Israel, even so far as its legitimacy as a state. Does it have a right to exist? What are the advantages and pitfalls of a nation created along religious or racial lines?
Do you think the outlines of Heshel’s story as they intersect with history are accurate representations of events? If so, what is to be learned from that struggle?
What kind of person is Heinrich? Have you met people you feel could fit that role? Could you be such a person?
What feelings are aroused in you by the descriptions of the concentration camps and Heinrich/Heshel’s role in the murder of thousands?
Why do you think the author opted to make Heinrich a bookkeeper as opposed to guard or a storm trooper?
Hannah Arendt created the phrase “the banality of evil,” referring to Adolph Eichmann, the architect of the Nazi death camp system. Does Heinrich fit that description? What is the nature of evil?
Is it really possible for a person to change so dramatically? Is it plausible that someone like Heinrich could find salvation in embodying the nature of his enemy? What is the power of empathy? Experience? Will?
What is the role of God in this novel?
Every family has secrets. What are the effects of family secrets and how do they affect one’s life? What happens when they are uncovered?
Why do we lie to ourselves and others? What is the secret knowledge we all carry with us?
Part of the plot structure of this novel is in the form of a mystery or detective story. Why?
Is guilt what drives Heshel Rosenheim? If so what is the true nature of that guilt? If not, what is it that drives him?
Is guilt itself a conduit to redemption?
If Heshel Rosenheim is indeed Heinrich Mueller, can he be forgiven? What is the role of good works in the balance sheet of redemption?
Michael’s relationship with his sister is unique within the novel for its purity and wholesomeness — yet it is this relationship which pushes Michael to commit a terrible crime, and become, in essence, like the man in the journals. What are the moral implications of causing destruction in the name of love? How can we distinguish, not as observers after the fact, but as actors in the heat of the moment, between right and wrong, especially in the context of strong emotional, philosophical, or historical forces?
The relationships between fathers and sons in this novel are ambiguous and complex. What powers come into play to disrupt the normal flow between the generations?
Is this disruption, distrust and yearning simply “the way it is?” How is it resolved within the context of the novel? How do you relate as a father, mother, daughter or son, to the issues brought up by these characters?
April Love is a mysterious woman who keeps popping up in the oddest places, including in bed with a man ten years her junior. What does she represent to you? Why did the author bring her into the story?
Do Michael and April get together after the novel concludes?
Discuss the role of place setting in this novel and fiction in general. How, and why, are places “characters,” and how does place effect you personally?
What is the difference between writing and speaking in this novel?