Chapter 7: Breakfast

[KxBurns]

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BookSavage wrote:

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m3girl wrote:

What was this Bobby up to - ripping out the mantle?  I know they can be valuable but was he taking advantage of the crazy old lady (Ginny)?

Susan

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I am well past this chapter and that portion still bothers me.  I cannot make sense of that action.

Message Edited by BookSavage on 03-12-2008 04:44 PM

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I wonder if the true significance is the fact that Ginny has not even noticed until Vivi points it out. She's the self-appointed captain of this ship but she has very little awareness of what is going on in the "real" world. Just a thought... Anyone else have any ideas?

[HannibalCat]

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noannie wrote:

I feel Vivi was exploring the house and remembering things as she went. She hadn't been home in fifty years so she was re-acquainting herself with the house. Ginny, living alone and being paranoid thought she was searching for something. I felt bad for vivi when she discovered all the furniture was sold, but on the other hand, she chose to distance herself from her sister and the family home. Vivi, in my opinion was jealous of the relationship that Clive and Ginny had together, sharing their love for moths and butterflies.

noannie

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I thought the issue of Vivi "sneaking" about the house looking for something was the paranoia of Ginny, and not the behavior of Vivi. I'm sure I would want to examine the house after being away, too. And I agree with your assessment that it was too bad for Vivi that things were gone. If she had wanted to keep things she could have done more during the intervening years.

I'm not sure Vivi was jealous of Ginny's relationship with Clive. I haven't been able to draw that conclusion, yet. Perhaps we will learn more about that later.

I keep having to remind myself that I don't trust Ginny. Sometimes she seems so rational. But she really has too many issues for me to totally believe that. So I go back and forth.

[KxBurns]

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HannibalCat wrote:

I'm not sure Vivi was jealous of Ginny's relationship with Clive. I haven't been able to draw that conclusion, yet. Perhaps we will learn more about that later.

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Yeah, it's hard to say. Vivi clearly had more of an affinity for Maud -- they were so alike -- and yet that doesn't necessarily mean she didn't resent Ginny's closeness with Clive. Still, it's hard to believe the bitterness Vivi expresses could just be jealousy.

[m3girl]

Thanks for the reply.  I have not finished the book yet - just coming to Monday, actually.  But I am more and more interested in finding out what is actually wrong with Ginny. Perhaps this guy was not really helping her with her finances by selling things but rather ripping her off...
I'm not sure we will figure out that part clearly but I do want clarification on why Ginny was treated so differently from her sister.  Why they let Vi go to the big city when she was 15 and kept Ginny there....very interesting.

Susan

[Jo6353]

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fordmg wrote:

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kbbg42 wrote:

I found this chapter to be very revealing in the sisters relationships to their parents. First off Vivi too calls them Maude and Clive so it must have been the parents that wished to be called by their first names. Also telling was the fact that Ginny kept all of her fathers things and got rid of all her mother's. I have to ask myself what Maude did to create the distaste that Ginny has for her? Or is it guilt on Ginny's part? Did she in fact push Maude down the stairs and kill her? Could it have been an accidental push? I feel sorry for Vivi that she has nothing of her mothers. Yes she is partly to blame, if she had come to the house earlier she could have had somthing. She definatly waited too long but still... I also found her attitude to her father extraordinary as it was him "putting his foot down" that let her go away to secritarial school when she was younger. What greivences does she have against him?

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Where I agree that it seems strange that Ginny got rid of everything concerning her mother and kept her fathers stuff, we need to remember that Ginny followed her father into the same occupation. By keeping Clive's things, she was also keeping her own lifes work.

MG

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And perhaps her memories of Maud were too painful. Or if she killed her maybe she just wanted her totally out of her life. Jo

[maude40]

The sisters are certainly on opposite sides when it comes to their parents. Ginny kept nothing of her mothers, no remembrance of any kind. Vivien didn't want any thing of Clive's at all but was very upset that Ginny hadn't saved a thing of her mother's. Yvonne