Why does a neighbor pounding on the door so disorient Ben's father? How does this tie in with Jakob's childhood memories?

Describe how Nazi propaganda prepares for the wholesale slaughter of the Jews. What factors cause the executioners to be so brutal?

What use is made of Jewish mysticism in the novel?

How do the fates of Zakynthos and Corfu islands contrast during the Nazi occupation of Greece?

How does Ben's wife Naomi's crush on Jakob affect her husband's devotion to studying the poet's work and preserving his legacy?

How do both Jakob and Ben's failed first marriages compare and contrast? How do the second wives provide antidotes for what goes wrong?

Weather is a major concern in this novel. How do the nature of tornadoes and lightning accommodate figures of speech about the Holocaust? Do you find these natural or forced?