Punta Gorda Page Turners discussion

Sorry it took me so long. It's been on my list of things to do to share my thoughts on the book based on the questions above.

1. Why do you think that the murder of Honorah Parker became the fascination of New Zealand? I believe it was because the murder was committed by two teenage girls, which is not very common.

2. The relationships between the girls and Mrs. Hulme and Ms. Parker were vastly different. Both girls individually had rocky relationships with their mothers but only one parent ended up dead, why do you think this was so?
I believe the reason Ms. Parker ended up murdered was because she was in the way of their happiness. Mrs. Hulme didn't get in the way, she just didn't pay much attention to her daughter.

3. The fathers of both girls were relatively weak-willed when it came to their daughters. Discuss the different relationships with them and do you think the girls would have turned out differently with different parents?
To me, the father's of both girls had little or no effect on them. They were almost absent from the picture. Different parents could have made things better or worse. Nature vs. nurture might have played a part.

4. There has been much speculation on whether the girls were lesbians or just remarkably close friends, children who were outsiders and clung to each other in need. Anne Perry tried very hard to stress that she was looking for Mister Right, yet neither ever married. Based on this book, what do you think?
I don't think the lesbian/close friend aspect had much of an affect on the situation. I believe that their delusions and fantasies played more of a part in the murder.

5. As the girls said, they were completely MAD. Do you think this was true?
I believe that there was some kind of mental illness at play. I think that they also wanted to believe they were special in a mad way.

6. What do you think of the tohunga’s (a Maori priestly expert) theory that the girls really did find another dimension and Mrs. Parker’s death was needed as a blood sacrifice to the guardians, even though this was done unconsciously.
This is all part of that fantasy world they lived in. Because of their mental immaturity, they could not differentiate between reality and fantasy.

7. "Perry has an insight that few crime writers can boast of. Perry committed murder, in 1954. Her intimate knowledge of good and evil has brought literary acclaim," wrote the Times. Do you think this is true and why she became an amazing writer of crime fiction?
I think anytime someone has experienced something of this magnitude, it does give them an insight into how other murders/crimes can be written.

8. After reading about the childhood Juliet Hulme experienced, do you have any sympathy for her?
I don't necessarily have sympathy for her but I can understand how her childhood could mess with how she deals with life's problems. I believe she was a manipulator and had more to do with pushing Pauline into murdering her mother than came out in the book.
Do you feel she ever truly repented?
I don't know that she ever truly repented. I think she regretted getting caught.
Do you think Pauline Parker regretted it? Even thought I think Pauline Parker, at the time of the murder, really was mentally ill and possibly slipping into being truly evil, I think she is the one who regretted it the most. She did not change her name and become a famous murder mystery writer. She changed her name and has spent the her life out of the spotlight.