Book Club for Introverts discussion

Note - there are 11 discussion questions (some have sub-questions within the larger question) and I'll add to this topic every few days.

1. Frances' life is ultimately tragic. What could she have done differently to have a different outcome?

I think she should have disentangled herself from her mother years before and lived her own life.

Agreed! I think she could have done that by asking for help before things got so bad. Her father showed up at the trial which makes me think that he did care about her. Surely he or others, i.e. doctors and nurses, could have done more had they known.

But entangled is a great word to describe their relationship which would have probably made it difficult for her to even fathom asking for help.

Isolating herself with toxic/needy people made her life difficult and I think things would have been different had she not surrounded herself with them.

This is a hard question. She never really lived life due to her isolation with her mother, so how would she have known any better?

I think not recognising Victor’s feelings for her could have made a difference and not fleeing when Cara and Peter finally showed their true colours.

I think, like most of us, she loved her parents regardless of their faults. She felt responsible for her parents breakup and neither, it seems, did much to assuage her guilt. Confidence is hard to build in oneself, and she never had it. She wanted to be loved and valued and like most of us sought it out from the wrong people. She knew her mother was toxic yet she chose to stay fat and dependent on her. She needed to exert her independence sooner.

2. Cara is clearly an unreliable narrator, but how much did you believe Frances' story? Is she unreliable or just gullible and easily led?

What about her failing memory that she readily admits to?

And what about Peter's version of events?

I believed Frances was gullible and easily led by both Cara and Peter. I think that her failing memory plays a part in the unreliability of her narrative, though. One thing I was confused about is her failing memory. In the beginning she stated that the summer of 1969 was 20 years ago, so is this false because her memory is failing or did something happen in those 20 years that affects her memory drastically?

Peter is unstable as well, possibly more significantly than Cara. I don’t trust either of them, but believe his narration of their past to be more true than Cara’s, especially when it comes to their son.

I tended to believe Frances’ story more than the other two because she seemed more naive and innocent - until the end and that made me question a lot. I thought this was a fascinating illustration of how events and memories can be so different for individuals involved in the same incident.

3. If you were in Frances’ situation when the objects are found in the museum, what would you have done with them?

I would have written the owner of the house and let him know what was found. It would have given me too much anxiety to use all the items knowing it was wrong 😳

I’m a rule follower and just reading that gave me anxiety. I would have looked at all of it because I love museums but I would have notified the owner as well.

I would have notified the owner but I can also appreciate that Frances was caught up “in the moment” and it was easy to justify their decision when the alternative would have jeopardized her friendship to Clara and Peter.

4. There are some 'supernatural' scenes in the novel - the pillow in the bath, the mouse on the windowsill, and the face in the window. What significance do you think these had for Frances?

And are you easily scared?

I’m certain the face in the window was Cara stealing Frances pain meds. I found these things all strange, but also think they’re in Frances’ head, I don’t think they really happened. I don’t scare super easily, so these things didn’t freak me out at all.

I’m a huge chicken. I would have been packing my bags after the pillow.

I think all of the occurrences have an explanation but our minds are powerful, especially when powered by emotions. Frances’ past tormented her so naturally she read her own narrative into these events.

I agree that it was Cara in the window.

5. & 6. What significance did you read into the missing peacock's eyes, and the motif of eyes and spyholes throughout the novel?

And along the same lines, Did you see the house as a character, and if so how did it manipulate or influence the characters?