ALICE AND NONA:FIRST PART OF BOOK,NO END BOOK REVELATIONS PLEASE

[vivico1]

From the first, you feel like Alice and her father see things falling apart financially because Nona left. She had the "it" factor of horse showing and brought in the trophies and the money. When she left, so it seems did the future of the ranch. Is that a fair assessment tho? We have another thread about the business and maybe some other things they could do to save it but what I would like to discuss here, is how Alice sees Nona and their roles in the family.

Seeing things through Alices eyes, Nona seemed to be everything she wasnt, including VISIBLE. Nona did everything Alice couldn't. People wanted to be around Nona when they might have walked right by Alice without even seeing her. Do you think this maybe spoiled Nona, being the center of attention? Why do you think she left with the cowboy, was it love? Was it to get away from being the older one who probably had to do the things around the house and with the mother that Alice now does? And here is something that really bothered me and made me wonder if it was really both Joe and Alice that thought this, or that Alice just believed it too much herself--
Alice knew a ton about horses and riding. She could help tell sheila how to sit and ride. She could see what Sheila was doing wrong. Why did Joe not work more with Alice to become the next one to work the horses in the shows after Nona? She says something about she was just too stiff, wasnt as good as Nona and just couldn't do it, but do you think that with time and work with Joe, that could have changed, become much better? Maybe she was just intimidated with Nona's rep and Joe's short temper at times when you do something wrong (if your not a paying person anyway lol). When he finally gives Alice a chance, not because he gives her any confidence that she can do it, but that he just needs her to do it with Darling, Alice wins a blue ribbon and even surprises herself! I dont think you win blue, just on a fluke and hanging on with no idea of what your doing instinctively if nothing else, or Sheila would have had blue already when all she could do was hang on. Do you think Alice never had her shot, never believed she could do for the ranch what her sister did? Is she even invisible for this, even to herself? It really bothered me that she didnt get that shot,but was it because of her beliefs or Joe's? What do you think about that and do you think Nona and Alice were really very close before she left, or was the real Alice invisible to Nona too when she was caught up in the parade of her life?