Leaving Time discussion

Ok I know theres bad in the world, but how can Neveie, who is like a grandma figure to Jenna, have killed her. I understand she resented Alice for causing Grace to kill herself but how can she take it ourt on her four year old daughter who Nevie loved and helped raise?

It must be the "Eye for an eye" principle that drove this. I thought it was cold blooded. As a mother, I can't imagine putting another mother through the pain that I would have felt losing my child. Seems crazy.

Yes but Alice didnt kill her daughter, she drove her to it but Gidean was responsible too. What I didnt understand, if he was alive.

I'm in agreement with you. Alice blamed herself. she called herself "a murderer" because of her selfishness. Gideon is certainly at fault as well.

I dont feel alice was selfish, just went about things the wrong way. I never liked Nevie or Alices' husband. I always felt like it was both of them against her, like Nevie was almost a monster in law and he was like the enabling son putting his mom before his wife. Some of the differences between Nevie and Alice might have started out as being generational differences, which are understandable. Nevie raised a child and some times old school advice isnt bad in this day with all the media and modern medical advice scaring moms today. But she just never respected Alice both in her ability to do her job or raise her child. I think part of what her and Gideon had in common is he was floating on the same boat as her and actually had Nevie as a monster in law. Also, he was like a second dad to her child since her husband was never available. But grace helped raise her chikd too and deserved respect. I also think they were implying Nevie pushed Grace into working with her in a job she hated instead of as a teacher which she would have loved. Grace seemed insecure, being afraid to ever speak her mind or tell her husband of her infertility issues so they could possibly resolve them or try other means to starting a family as Alice suggested. Grace never stood up to any of them. It might not have been in her nature to be assertive. She was a humble, selfless caring person by nature, but you can be all that and still feel secure and confident. I think having a mom like nevie made her insecure.

I feel like a lot of Nevie's true personality was not discussed in the book. She was somewhat of a mystery. Sometimes people go through life and Seem "normal" but when faced with trauma, especially the worst kind (losing a child), they snap. They are so overcome by their grief that they no longer are able to see clearly. They are consumed by their grief. For others, I think that tragedies like the lose of a child will bring out their true colors, their true feelings of dislike or anger may have been hidden below the surface. They are more likely to act upon those feelings. Those true colors may never have surfaced without experiencing such grief. Although, I do believe looking back you will see signs of their true feelings, but their grief takes it to extremes.

Nikki wrote: "I feel like a lot of Nevie's true personality was not discussed in the book. She was somewhat of a mystery. Sometimes people go through life and Seem "normal" but when faced with trauma, especially..."

I felt her personality was somewhat revealed, she went against Alices wishes when babysitting, such as giving her honey for teathing agsinst Alices rules ( could be generation but still it showed she did not respect Aluce) and she did not take Alices advicecwhen the elephant went into labor andcshe sensed something wasnt right (she wound up being correct). It also seemed she madeGrace feel obligated to work at the sanctuary, bwhichvshe hated and not teach.

I think that Nevvie's character was subtly alluded to in her struggle with Alice. Key word is subtle and I also believe that she was so grief stricken after Grace's death that eye for an eye was all she saw. She could not rise above it and Alice was her target, not Jenna. Jenna was collateral damage.

Kristin, I do agree with you. Those moments in the story did show Nevvie's character. It was revealed somewhat. She did blatantly disrespect Alice and ignore her rules. What I was thinking while I was reading the book; I was concerned about what Nevvie could be capable of, but didn't quite feel she was capable of murdering the young child that she cared for so often. In that way, I feel that we never got any insight from Nevvie's perspective. We didn't get to "hear her thoughts" as we did with the main characters.

i agree, Maria :)