Book Clubs
If you are interested in reading Bucharest Diary with your book club, please see the discussion questions below. If you would like to request that Alfred Moses join your discussion in person (in limited areas) or via Skype, please contact Jill Bernstein.Discussion Questions
- What did you know about Romania before reading the book?
- How did the book change those perceptions?
- After reading the book, did you want to learn more about Romanian history and struggles?
- What did you know about the large, pre-war Romanian Jewish community and Romania’s treatment of its Jews?
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What were some of your favorite stories about the ambassador’s time in Romania? Which of his accomplishments were most significant?
- Do Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen and Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu come alive for you in the book?
- Were you moved by Ambassador Moses’s efforts to save Romania’s Great Synagogue?
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How do you view the changes to Romania from the 1970s, when Alfred Moses first visited, to 21 years later when he stepped down as ambassador?
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The book’s subtitle describes Romania as moving from “darkness to light.” What are examples from the book that explain how the changes occurred?
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How do you think Romania compares with some other Eastern European countries since the fall of the Soviet Union in its economic recovery and move to democracy?
- How does Bucharest Diary differ from other memoirs you have read? What stories or moments in the book stayed with you?