Oprah's Book Club (Official) discussion

Quote: Alice knew these things were coming, and she rested her head on her brother's chest. She wished the man outside really were Thomas, so she and Billups could again have the same enemy and the same fear."

Oprah's Note: This is the strangest chapter in the book, or at least it was one of the strangest to me. If we can't be friends at least we can have the same enemy.

I didn't think it was strange so much as I thought it was sad. To think that Alice assuages her guilt from never reporting Thomas to her parents by trying to take care of Billups now. What she didn't do then, she is trying to make up for in spades with a new apartment, clothes, money, etc. She doesn't want to accept the fact that Billups has moved on from that past horror - he has let it go. She can't because of her guilt. So, she remains in loveless marriage, drugged out of her mind to numb the pain she feels for her brother. I thought the whole chapter was just so sad. As far as having the same enemy, I think what she believes that by sharing something like that awful secret, she and Billups are bonded. That bond is breaking (or has already broken) and so she thinks the only way to keep it going is to have this common enemy.

I agree with Nadia. Alice was so obsessed with having the best for herself so she could forget hurts that happened to her brother, Billups, whom she was supposed to "protect". She was so fixated that any man wearing a fedora was Thomas that she was spooked by her own husband. She even wanted to protect her brother so badly that she didn't even see how happy he was with his life and how he was ready for a change. If anything, this was a sad chapter for Alice and sort of happy for Billups.

Alice is in desperate need of professional help. Billups has moved past his hurt and is beginning to create a new life for himself. I agree that this was the strangest chapter of all, in my opinion.

I agree with with you all of you ladies. Her guilt was holding her back from living and she was trying to do the same to Billups. But he wasn't having it! She didn't understand how he could just let it go, move on with life and be happy. He was tired of walking around with a demon. She didn't know how to get rid of hers.

Alice, to me wants company to sit in the despair of the past and knowledge of trauma experienced by the hands of Thomas. Alice is so cofused and unlocked. In this chapter she has no direction, her character doesn't develope. Billy is portrayed with growth, while Alice fades. This is life at one of it's fraile moments, in the home of one of the town's most prominent doctor. -M.

Alice & Billups was definitely the strangest chapter. Mostly because Alice is living in the past, consumed by her guilt. Billups has moved on and trying to create an independent future.

I think Alice married her husband because she thought that if she did she would be able to provide for her brother and somehow ease her guilt for not sticking up for him when he was being molested. She will always see Billups as the little boy who she never defended. Sorta like an arrested development.

I agree with all of you and that Alice did live in the past, and that she wanted a better life for herself and wanted to share her pain with someone that she could confide to you and that Billups was the one that they had both shared a common experience and secret.

This was a very heavy and heartbreaking chapter. Not only for Alice never being able to let go of the horrors of the past and having it be a continuous wedge since Billups is moving forward, but just Alice's life overall.