Florence Adler Swims Forever (Beanland) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points for FLORENCE ADLER SWIMS FOREVER … then take off on your own:

1. "We can’t tell Fannie. Not when the pregnancy is already so precarious." What do you think of the Adler family's decision to keep Florence's death from her sister Fannie? Would you have made the same decision? (Author Rachel Beanland has indicated that she herself is unsure that secrecy was the right choice to have made.)

2. Florence drowns early in the novel. What do we know about her? How does her death continue to haunt each of the Adlers; how does each deal with feelings of grief?

3.  Talk about the novel's other characters—as well as the secrets they are keeping from one another. Whose perspective did you enjoy most? Perhaps it's 7-year-old Gussie; if so, how does a child's viewpoint, often naive, end up revealing deep truths.

4. Is Joseph's treatment of Isaac fair: the requirement that he disappear, contacting his little girl only through letters and only twice a year at that?

6. Discuss the growing threat of the holocaust under Nazi Germany as it is foreshadowed in this novel. What are the obstacles thrown in the paths of those who were desperate to emigrate to the U.S? Were you aware of the how difficult it was for European Jews to find refuge in this country? Should some Jewish refugees manage to make it to the U.S., talk about some of the challenges they faced as portrayed in Florence Adler Swims Forever.

7. What is the significance of the novel's title, the idea that Florence will "swim forever"?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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