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The Round House
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The Round House > Spoiler Thread! / The Ending

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message 1: by NNEDV (last edited Sep 03, 2014 11:01AM) (new) - added it

NNEDV | 160 comments Mod
To us, this book wasn’t as much a “Whodunit?” as much as it was a “Will-he-be-held-accountable-for-it?” Depressingly and yet somewhat unsurprisingly, Linden Lark was not held accountable for his crimes in The Round House. Were you surprised by this? Why or why not?

Joe’s father tries to explain to Joe why this is through a strange casserole-and-cutlery-related metaphor, where each piece of cutlery explains a court decision or Act of Congress that has repercussions up through the present day (which is 1988 in this book).

Did you think that Joe (& Cappy) would go through with their plan to get revenge on Geraldine’s attacker?

What did you think of the book overall?


Illiterate | 5 comments I feel as if Linden was held accountable. It may not have been in a court of law, but it he was held accountable none the less.
He was suffering. That is why he relished the attack in the grocery store. That is why he made eye contact with shooter. He knew his demise was upon him. When you suffer like that - you welcome death. You welcome the end of it all.
It was sad that Joe and cappy had to take on the burden of vengeance.
I have spiritual approach to life. I feel there was a lot of spirituality in the book. Some karma. Some manifest destiny themes. Both cappy and, joe marched on toward the fate, despite warnings from various sources not to do so. Why? Is destiny in our hands or in the hands of higher power. Joe seems to reflect on it as there was a futility to fighting destiny. No regrets. He does not consider alternate paths -merely this is the nature of the story. It is interesting because the same reasoning is given for the annihilation and destruction of his people by the advancing white man. It is manifest destiny.
When seeking revenge, they say you must dig two graves. Joe seems to learn this first hand. He spends his life trying to avoid this for the future of his people. No matter how rickety and ill constructed - the slow build of a tribal justice system that will stand up in Americas eyes is better than high price of vigilante justice -through revenge


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