Discuss a person going through a crisis of identity. Sammy begins the story acting like a regular guy. After Joe forms a relationship with Rosa, Sammy is rather isolated socially. He forms a relationship with Tracy Bacon, which he ends after the authorities beat and rape Sammy. Then, Sammy marries and only later decides to be free of his marriage. Can a person decide to change their sexual orientation? Under what circumstances would this be possible?

Discuss the Jewish community during the Nazi era and World War II. Many European Jews, such as Joe Kavalier's family in Czechoslovakia, are totally secular and are caught by surprise by the Nazi persecution. In New York, Joe fights a low level war against Germans and Nazis, which has little relationship to the events going on in Europe. Does the book make any sense about the relationship between...