Later Chapters and Whole Novel

[Rachel-K]

Please use this thread to begin discussing the whole novel. All spoilers are fine in this thread!

[Fozzie]

I loved reading about the relationship/routine that developed between Corey, his Dad, and Mr. McGowar.  There were many light and touching moments spent with them at a time in the book where the complete story of the Henry Bonwiller incident was being revealed and that part of the story line became very serious.  I think mixing the two story lines made it much more readable because I knew that things carried on.

 

[Fozzie]

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:

 

“--- that not only are our parents buried cryptically inside each of us, but that we are buried just as cryptically inside each of them, and that we may look in either direction to see the secrets of our children and of ourselves.”  (pg. 397)

 

[Fozzie]

I found myself sympathizing with June Metarey.  Unfortunately, I didn’t note any of the passages that told about her background.  I remember thinking how stifling her life must have been married to Liam Metarey.  No wonder she flew a plane – as a way of escaping and defying her life.  A couple of passages in the book which led me to this conclusion occurred right before the plan crash, so I expected June to have perished, having reached her limit, but I found myself, oddly, not completely surprised when I discovered it was Liam piloting the plane.

[Rachel-K]

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Fozzie wrote:

I loved reading about the relationship/routine that developed between Corey, his Dad, and Mr. McGowar.  There were many light and touching moments spent with them at a time in the book where the complete story of the Henry Bonwiller incident was being revealed and that part of the story line became very serious.  I think mixing the two story lines made it much more readable because I knew that things carried on.

 

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Yes, Laura, I agree! I think there is a wonderful poetry in this balance between the stories.

Rachel

[MJane]

In the latter part of the novel Mr. Canin tells us that it was June who was ambitious; perhaps more so than Liam.  I don't think I really picked up on that until he pointed it out.  Following her mother, it is now Clara who is political and ambitious.  I, too, suspected that it was Liam piloting the plane.  What a shame, he could have had 30 more years with his children and his family!  The real courage would have been to face the music and live through it.

[Rachel-K]

I'm curious how much fault we find in each of our main characters at the end of the novel. We see what they have done only after we have grown deeply familiar with them, which can create a bind of feelings in a reader.

Is Corey's role now more difficult for us, even as a kid? The joke he made to Gil over the accident in the snow, reflected by the end of the novel, felt awful to me. (Especially because one of my questions was whether Gil might have even seen JoEllen in whatever undocumented actions had come before during that snowstorm).

I loved that the line of resentment that had brought up the question for JoEllen, "Who is going to help me?" actually kind of haunts our reading of the novel. (Or did for me.).