Maple/LexServ Book Group discussion

What are your overall thoughts on this book?

This was easily the most disturbing book I think I’ve ever read. I felt like I was aggravated with the main character, Norton, throughout the whole thing. From the very beginning, when he described his mother, I could tell this was going to be one of those books where I hated the protagonist. That didn’t mean that I disliked the book. There have been many books that I’ve enjoyed, but hated the main character. This was one of them.
Norton just has this self-righteous, I’m-better-than-you attitude that annoyed me. And then there’s the whole topic of sexual abuse of the many children that he adopted. Gross! By the way, I could have done without that last chapter, thank you very much.
The fact that he adopted all of those kids was very hard for me to believe. First of all, nobody can afford to adopt dozens of kids and raise them in ritzy Bethesda! The day care bills alone would bankrupt the guy. Secondly, it would have been socially unacceptable for a single man to adopt so many children and might not have even been possible given the time period. So that part was a little hard to believe.
I thought the mystical element in the book was interesting. It was sad about what happened to the people on the island once the pharmaceutical companies got to them.
In all, it was a good read and certainly kept me turning the pages.

I actually enjoyed this book very much. It was really disturbing though. Norton, in my opinion, is a very nicely written anti-hero. I also hated him most of the time, but there were moments when I felt sorry for him. I agree that he was annoying in almost every way. The way he wouldn't take the blame for anything he'd done just made me roll my eyes. Not to mention how creepy he was... And that last chapter left a really sour taste in my mouth. I think the book would have benefited greatly if the author didn't include it at all. There'd be mystery which would lead to more interesting conversation if everything was left as ambiguous as it was throughout the book.
I liked the ambiguity. This book is a good example of things not being strictly black and white. You wish some of the things didn't happen or were different, but at the same time you kind of understand why they were the way they were.

Also, I read some of the book reviews here on Goodreads, and some of them claim that the character of Norton and the book itself are based on a real person, Daniel Carleton Gajdusek. Apparently, he was a medical researcher and Nobel Prize winner who adopted over 50 children from Micronesia and was later convicted of child molestation...