“…the Americans are all so squeaky clean. They arrive full of idealism, eager to improve society with their three hundred years of democracy and can-do spunk and sympathy for the underdog. They come with advanced degrees and a passion for recycling and the latest ideas for improving the status of women. They bring small fortunes and sometimes big ones and the habit of wearing seat belts and waiting patiently in lines…and worldly Israelis like Doron and Ronit and Galia and Lev find them likeable and sometimes admirable but always naïve.” —Displaced Persons

In her short story collection, Displaced Persons, winner of the New American Fiction Prize, author Joan Leegant has penned exquisitely written tales of wandering Jews. Half of her stories are set in cosmopolitan and multifaceted Israel and the other half among Jewish families in the United States, and all explore moment of transition, exile and homecoming.

Local book groups are a vital part of Hadassah for many members. If your chapter doesn’t already have one, now’s the time to start! We encourage groups to have their own discussions about Displaced Persons before or after watching the virtual interview with the author. To facilitate those discussions, we present the following discussion guide.

1. How are the title and theme of displacement reflected in each of the stories in Joan Leegant’s collection? What are the different types of displacement and exile described in the stories?
2. The first half of the book, called “East,” has seven stories set in Israel, and the second half, “West,” has seven set in the United States. What do you think of that division of the book? Is there a difference between the displacement described in the Israeli stories and that described in the American ones?
3. One of the common accusations seen on social media today is that Israelis are all “white colonialists” originally from Europe. Discuss the makeup of Israeli society as seen through the stories in the first section of the book. What is Leegant trying to explain about the diversity of people in Israel?
4. A number of the stories touch on religion and gender. Explore these topics in connection with the stories “The Baghdadi,” “Beautiful Souls,” “Remittance” and “The Eleventh Happiest Place on Earth”? How do these stories shatter stereotypes of Arabs, Americans and Israelis?
5. What other stories in the collection deal with stereotypes and assumptions, only to shatter them? Analyze those other stereotypes and why they might exist.
6. Some of the stories address issues of parenting, for instance mothers with sick and fragile children and women with aging fathers. How are parental obligations and relationships between parents and children­ described in “Hunters and Gatherers,” “Wonder Women” and “Bus”? Are there any common threads between these stories?
7. Many of the characters in the short stories are women—in addition to mothers, grandmothers and daughters, there are American female academics visiting Israel, teenagers touring the land, women navigating divorce or recovering from physical or psychological trauma. Which of these characters do you most relate to? Given that the book is a collection of stories, which of these women would you like to hear more about?
8. A third thread that unites a number of stories is mental illness. Describe how questions around mental health and caring for those who are sick are explored in “Hunters and Gatherers,” “The Book of Splendor” and “After.” Compare how the characters in these stories address mental illness.
9. Leegant wrote all the stories in Displaced Persons before October 7—indeed, a few she penned a decade earlier. Discuss how some of the stories touch on the long-simmering tensions in Israeli society and how others address Jewish American concerns as well as attitudes toward Israel.
10. Imagine Abby and Jennifer, the young women from “Beautiful Souls,” as college students today. How do you think they would react to the college campus protests of the past year? Do you think their experiences in Israel as described in their story would influence their support of the Jewish state?
11. Leegant sprinkles mentions of food—roasted eggplant, lemony salads, olives, Turkish coffee, rich cheesecake, deli and brisket, among many others—throughout her stories. How does she use food to explore and create character development and cultural identity? What other cultural markers does she employ in crafting her characters?