Middle Chapters Discussion Topic: Jeanine and Ross [ Edited ]

[Amanda_R]

The scenes between Jeanine and Ross Everett are very sexy, although physically almost nothing happens between them, and they don't even speak that much.

How does Jiles accomplish such tension with so little?

How does the Ross-Jeanine romance compare to romantic arcs in other books you have read recently (or movies or TV shows you have seen, etc.)?

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Note: This topic refers to events through Chapter Twenty-Six. Some readers of this thread may not have finished the book. If you are referring to events that occur after Chapter Twenty-Six please use "Spoiler Warning" in the subject line of your post. Thanks!

Message Edited by Amanda_R on 06-06-2007 10:42 AM

[bentley]

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Amanda_R wrote:

The scenes between Jeanine and Ross Everett are very sexy, although physically almost nothing happens between them, and they don't even speak that much.

How does Jiles
accomplish such tension with so little?

How does the Ross-Jeanine romance compare to romantic arcs in other books you have read recently (or movies or TV shows you
have seen, etc.)?

---

Reply to this message to discuss any of these topics. Or start your own new topic by clicking "New Message."

Note: This topic refers to events through Chapter Twenty-Six. Some readers of this thread may not have finished the book. If you are
referring to events that occur after Chapter Twenty-Six please use "Spoiler Warning" in the subject line of your post. Thanks!

Message Edited by Amanda_R on 06-06-2007 10:42 AM

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Jiles talented prose and the way she develops her characters allows her readers to be able to read between the lines and fill in the blank spaces. When two folks are on the same wavelength, they do not have to talk all of the time. The attraction is either there or not.

[Fozzie]

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Amanda_R wrote:

The scenes between Jeanine and Ross Everett are very sexy, although physically almost nothing happens between them, and they don't even speak that much.

How does Jiles
accomplish such tension with so little?

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It is what is left unsaid and undone that create the tension. We, the readers, are waiting for more to be said, for more to happen physically, but it doesn't.

I have to say, I am glad that Jeanine is treading cautiously when it comes to Everett. I just don't quite trust him for some reason. I think that busybody, Winifred Beasley, the home health worker, has influenced me with her statement, which I can't believe, on page 191:

"I know Ross Everett. ... I used to be the county nurse for Comanche County. He killed his wife."

On the next page, we learn the circumstances of her death, but Winifred has left some mistrust of Everett with me.

And then there is Jeanine's impression with her bedroom in his house, on page 179:

"He didn't want anybody here. Except some sort of women; casual women. That's why he kept her room like this. And he blamed it on the boy."

Is Everett feeling guilty about his wife's death or is he going through a normal mourning process?

I just don't know about him...

[jd]

The tension is present and Everett notices it everytime with the comment 'you are messing with me jeanine' and each time it is when she intentionally touches him in a seductive manner - fingers through his belt loop, touching his shirt sleeve and arm. Is it warm in here or is it just me? - jd

[flynn31]

Being an experienced husband and father gives him the knowledge on how to relate to a woman without much physical contact.