The Postcard

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. This semi-autobiographical novel depicts a fictionalized version of a postcard the author’s family received with the names of family members killed in Auschwitz. To your knowledge, is your family connected to any major historical events? If you have only a general sense of your family history, using what you know of your heritage, what events may your distant family have experienced? Do those events have any bearing on you?

2. Anne struggles with her relationship to and understanding of Judaism. What is your relationship to your religious or cultural heritage?

3. What character, major or minor, did you find most relatable in the novel? What about them resonated with you?

4. Do you know much about your family history? Did this novel make you want to know more?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Many books have been accused of exploiting the Holocaust—most famously, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and its sequel All the Broken Places. In general, what are your thoughts on the ethics of depicting a tragedy of the Holocaust’s magnitude in a fictional format? How does The Postcard approach the potential pitfalls of this genre?

2. How does this novel depict the burden of intergenerational trauma, and what lessons does this hold for contemporary societies? How do historical factors like the persecution of Jews and the events of the Holocaust touch the lives of people who did not directly experience it? Consider especially how intergenerational trauma is culturally contingent and might differ between various identity groups.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the use of multiple points of view and time periods affect this novel’s structure? How does this contribute to its main themes?

2. What are the novel’s most vivid moments of imagery? Why are these episodes described in such detail, and what is the effect of this on the narrative at large?

3. Consider the work’s characterization, dialogue, action, and other narrative features. In her treatment of these narrative elements, how does the author balance creating a full and compelling narrative with taking care not to misrepresent real people and historical events?

4. How does Anne’s character growth relate to, and in some ways provide closure for, historical events in her family history? Consider Anne’s narrative arc, her growth as a character, and the major themes of the novel.

5. How does the novel use literary devices like foreshadowing to create narrative meaning and tension? Looking back, are there any moments of foreshadowing that only made sense in retrospect?

6. How is sound used as a motif in this novel? How does the way characters respond to and produce sound relate to their characterizations and the larger themes of the novel?