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Book of the Month February

  • Writer: Josie Hough
    Josie Hough
  • Jan 31
  • 2 min read



We Must Not Think of Ourselves

by Lauren Grodstein


Read with me!


February's selection is We Must Not Think of Ourselves by Lauren Grodstein.


A heart-wrenching story of love and defiance set in the Warsaw Ghetto, based on the actual archives kept by those determined to have their stories survive World War II.


On a November day in 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews of the city are cut off from their former lives and held captive by Nazi guards, and await an uncertain fate. Weeks later, he is approached by a mysterious figure with a surprising request: Will he join a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening inside these walls? Adam agrees and begins taking testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors. He learns about their childhoods and their daydreams, their passions and their fears, their desperate strategies for safety and survival. The stories form a portrait of endurance in a world where no choices are good ones.


One of the people Adam interviews is his flatmate Sala Wiskoff, who is stoic, determined, and funny—and married with two children. Over the months of their confinement, in the presence of her family, Adam and Sala fall in love. As they desperately carve out intimacy, their relationship feels both impossible and vital, their connection keeping them alive. But when Adam discovers a possible escape from the Ghetto, he is faced with an unbearable choice: Whom can he save, and at what cost?


Inspired by the testimony-gathering project with the code name Oneg Shabbat, New York Timesbestselling author Lauren Grodstein draws readers into the lives of people living on the edge. Told with immediacy and heart, We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a piercing story of love, determination, and sacrifice for the many fans of literary World War II fiction such as Kristin Harmel’s The Book of Lost Names and Lauren Fox’s Send for Me.


HAPPY READING!

 


 


Book Review Questions for January

Just the Nicest Couple



  1. Which couple is the book title referencing: Lily and Christian or Nina and Jake?

  2. Did you first believe Lily when she told Christian what happened with Jake? Or did you see holes in her story?

  3. Jake is a bad guy—do you feel Nina was aware of his bad qualities or did she not want to admit the truth?

  4. While it seems that Lily was the one to murder Jake, it turns out it was Nina’s mother. Why did her mother murder Jake? Where you surprised at this turn of events?

  5. While Lily is in the clear for Jake’s murder, Christian and Lily have separated and are co-parenting their daughter. Do you think they’ll ever get back together?






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