50 pages • 1 hour read
The Sweetness of Forgetting
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Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of mental illness, death, and religious discrimination.
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. Hope’s viewing of the bakery transforms from a burden to an anchor and legacy. What aspects of her change of heart resonated most strongly with you?
2. How does The Sweetness of Forgetting differ from Harmel’s other World War II novels like The Book of Lost Names, particularly in its approach to trauma and healing?
3. Which moments between Rose and Hope as they navigate Rose’s Alzheimer’s disease struck you as most poignant?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. When have you experienced a revelation that shifted your understanding of your own background or identity, similar to Hope’s discovery of her Jewish heritage?
2. Which patterns of behavior or emotional responses have you seen passed down through generations in your own family or in others you know?
3. What did you think of Rose’s perspective that all religions worship the same God despite mankind creating differences?
4. Which character’s acts of love and self-sacrifice moved you most deeply?
5. In what ways does your family preserve and share its history through food?
6. Why do you think Hope struggled so much to accept help from others, particularly from Gavin? Do you find it easy or difficult to accept help?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.
1. What surprised you about the interfaith connections between Jewish and Muslim communities in the book? What did you already know or assume?
2. What historical and social factors might have influenced Holocaust survivors like Rose to hide their Jewish identities after the war?
3. Why might personal narratives like those collected by Olivier Berr be particularly powerful in preserving historical memory?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.
1. What varied meanings do stars have through the story?
2. How do the three generations of mother-daughter relationships in the novel reflect the complexities of inheritance and legacy?
3. How do Rose’s third-person, past-tense chapters complement Hope’s first-person, present-tense voice? How do these dual perspectives create a more complete narrative?
4. What is the significance of Rose’s chapters beginning with recipes? Does this unusual choice fit the story well?
5. What purpose does the fairy tale about the princess waiting for her prince serve? If it is an allegory, then who is the princess and who is the prince?
6. Which key moments transform Hope’s perspective on love and family throughout her character arc?
Creative Engagement
Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.
1. If you created a recipe representing your family’s history, what ingredients would you include and what would you name it?
2. Imagine a conversation between Ted and Jacob if they had met after Rose’s death—what might they say to each other?
3. What developments would you envision for Hope, Gavin, and the North Star Bakery five years after the story ends?
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