Challenges, Challenges! discussion

Here begins our little online book club. This is where we will talk about what we think about the book.

Let's not spoil it for anyone else - don't give away the end until we all know we are done.

-A

Lee has gone to the States for most of July, so I don't know if she will be joining us until she gets back...but I'm excited! :)

Lyndsay wrote: "Lee has gone to the States for most of July, so I don't know if she will be joining us until she gets back...but I'm excited! :)"


I should be fine. I am staying with my ex husband and he is a computer master so I would imagine I will be in Internet heaven.

The book is intriguing so far and I am enjoying it. I know from reading the review on Amazon there is something coming but if I had not read the preview I would have had no idea.

Ooooo - I'm excited to read it. I saw a review of it and all it was was a picture of a girl holding the book going :O .... Exciting!

Francesca wrote: "Ooooo - I'm excited to read it. I saw a review of it and all it was was a picture of a girl holding the book going :O .... Exciting!"

I think you will really enjoy it. It has been a long time since I read a book that develops a character. Paul is a little self-centered but in some ways his self talk is so similar to all of us. Though wait till you get to the appetizer and how he picks his (goat cheese and lamb lettuce). I thought that was so funny.

Lee wrote: "Lyndsay wrote: "Lee has gone to the States for most of July, so I don't know if she will be joining us until she gets back...but I'm excited! :)"


I should be fine. I am staying with my ex husband..."

I'm glad you can join us...I assume since you've started you don't need a copy of the book, lol

So I just started reading it and can't put it down. What is going on with Michael?!

Francesca wrote: "So I just started reading it and can't put it down. What is going on with Michael?!"

You find out at about 45%. Made me think about my own kids and what I would have done as a parent... It is revealed slowly.

I'm at the precipice of it and am so curious. Lol. Too bad life has to get in the way of books sometimes.

LOL...I've been working on a course all day with this book as the reward at the end of my day! I'm at 55% and I am so tired but I don't want to stop reading :)

Amy, are you on Chapter 29 yet?

I just finished the book? Why?! What was Chapter 29 again? Lol.

It's where he's talking about leaving the classroom. I loved all the ways that he had for saying I'm not a teacher anymore. It made me think of you.

Haha - yeah - that did sound familiar - lol. He probably taught for longer than I did though.

Ok it's really annoying me that he keeps saying I'm not going to tell you where I am or what my wife had....I wouldn't really care if you didn't keep bringing up that your not telling me, lol.

I actually found that really fucking annoying. Are you finished yet?

Ya I finished last night.

Haha - so in the end I don't think I liked it. I felt like nothing was really revealed about any of them? What did you think?

By about half way through the book I was annoyed. I wanted to know what the hell was going on and I feel like I never really found out. At first I found the writing style interesting and adding a little flare, but by the end I just wanted him to shut up and tell me what was going on.

Haha - I was pretty disappointed overall. Is the big surprise at the end that you basically know nothing?! Because if it was, well done!

I enjoyed it (odd ball I am). I don't think I would ever reread it. Once was definitely enough. I thought it was so interesting that in the beginning you think he is a really normal guy but as the book progresses you start to realize that he has major problems. And at the end you realize the wife is also nuts.
I just kept thinking of my own children and I cannot even imagine not turning them into the police for such a horrible crime. They had no compassion for others. And they even seemed to think that a homeless person had less value.

Ya that was pretty crazy. I actually kept thinking of some of my students and their parents and how crime works in fox lake, it's kind of similar to this family if you think about it.

I liked the book, but I really hate not knowing what's going on, it's fine to keep me in suspense but I should eventually be told! lol

Lyndsay wrote: "Ya that was pretty crazy. I actually kept thinking of some of my students and their parents and how crime works in fox lake, it's kind of similar to this family if you think about it.

I liked the..."
That is just what I thought. I also didn't like that you had no idea what was happening. Sometimes it creates suspense but it really just frustrated me this time.

Also, I know that I don't have kids, but I am married and I can't imagine, even for the good of my spouse keeping from them that our child murdered someone, even a homeless someone.

Lyndsay you'd have to be a sociopath to relate to these people. It's why you can't understand. I obviously get it.

What exactly did Paul pass on to Michael?! Stupid book. I almost want to reread it to see if I missed it.

I don't know and I'm a special education teacher, lol! I re-read the chapter where he talks about it but I can't think of an anger related disorder that is genetic that you could tell in an amniocentesis Lee any thoughts?

Is sociopathicness (?!) inherited? Maybe it's that.

I don't think you can find that in an amnio but I could be wrong, lol

I clearly have little knowledge of such things. The only thing you could find out would have to be a chromosome thing, right?

I don't think there is anything that could be checked in the amnio (like Lyndsay said). I think the author was just crazy. I looked up amnio and the results but most mental (if not all) disorders are not diagnosed by a medical test. If it was doctors would just be doing routine blood tests on people to see if they were nuts.

lol, I looked it up too Lee but I didn't realize how much was tested with an amnio and I gave up, lol. I think given the rest of the book it is very likely that the author was just crazy..or in Holland they have perfected genetic testing for crazy I kill people at random, lol....makes it either the safest or scariest place to be :)

Haha - perhaps he was just over rational and we are the crazy ones? Ever think of that? Huh?! Did ya?

Nope I find it difficult to operate on the principal that I'm the crazy one, lol.

...... At the beginning of our conversation you said you think the same way as Paul - so if that's true and you think Paul is crazy then ............

lol, true, I've changed my opinion about thinking like him, lol. I have a running dialogue in my head like he had, let's just leave it at that :P

I grudgingly concede.