Watchmaker's Daughter (Taitz) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Sonia Taitz describes being born into a “binocular” world (her parents emerged from a war-torn European past, but she is born into modern, hopeful America). How does this contrast affect her?

2. Do all parents live in different worlds than that of their children—simply because they grow up in different generations? How is your reality different than that of your parents or your children?

3. In our modern lives, children often travel away from their parents. But Sonia’s father asks her to stay home for college. Are separations more difficult for parents who are immigrants?

4. To what extent does the author keep her “Vow” to her father as she leaves law school to travel to England and Oxford University?

5. The author says her parents were not victims, but heroes. How does this idea of “heroism” propel her into the adventures of the book—achievement, travel, romance?

6. How much do we owe our parents in terms of preserving their culture and traditions? How much do our children owe us?

7. This memoir features star-crossed lovers. Should the choice of a marriage partner be affected by one’s family culture, or is this a dated (or even discriminatory) view?

8. Sonia’s father is very ambitious about his precocious child. The women’s movement also propels the author to “succeed” in worldly terms. What lessons does the author learn from her mother as time goes by?

9. The final line of the book is: “I was not just the watchmaker’s daughter. I was hers.” What is the author saying with these words?

10. Did the book leave you sad, happy, or a bit of both—and why?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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