Book Club for Introverts discussion

Here's the place to talk about chapters 10-12. Please don't spoil it for others; if you want to talk about something in a later chapter, I'll be posting topics for the other chapters as well.

My fear for Frances is increasing. She's getting sucked in, getting comfortable, feels a part of the group. she sees Cara as vulnerable and weak. she says "I wanted to continue to be that knife-carrying woman, someone more robust and capable than Cara." She is in love with Peter and it is clouding her judgement. The metaphor of the bitter orange is introduced...not sure I get it yet. Cara gives Frances a message that I don't think she hears when she says "It found a way...Everything will find a way to survive if it can." I think Frances is like most capable women (myself included). She wants to be wanted and treasured because she's capable and resourceful. The problem is Peter isn't a man who treasures and wants a woman like that. He may respect her for her resourcefulness, but he's very likely intimidated by it as well. He is attracted to the damaged damsel in distress in need of rescuing. Frances is doomed, I fear.

Ok, Cara is trying to convince Frances and Peter that the birth of her child was a virgin birth. I’m sure that’s what Peter and Cara were arguing about when Frances overheard them in the middle of the night. Cara shouted “what about Mary?” Now the question is, does she believe this herself or is it just part of her elaborate story? And then Frances finds the hairbrush with the long grey hairs in it, the same long grey hair that she found on her pillow in the bathtub? Is there a ghost in the house? And who put the telescope in the bathroom floor and why? So many questions!! And I keep coming back to Victor, where does he fit into all this?

By this point I think Frances is headed into a situation she is going to have a hard time getting herself out of. She's grown up so sheltered and now she's being given lavish attention by two interesting and worldly-seeming people.

And the virgin birth? I think you're right about her shouting about Mary.

Two things strike me--Cara's need to share personal experiences with a person she knows is clearly uncomfortable about it, and Frances' need to be accepted. unfortunately, I find myself being able to relate to Frances in her inability to define her boundaries!

I also fear for Frances, she’s in too deep already. I agree regarding the Virgin Mary, it was the first thing I thought of when Cara and Peter were fighting. I wonder what the doctors have said or done for her after having a “virgin pregnancy.”

All I can think after reading these chapters is that Frances is getting in too deep with these two, especially Cara. Does Cara really believe she was a virgin when she got pregnant? I think she’s delusional. That could mean danger for Frances.