Foggy Book Club discussion

Thoughts on the book so far

Well, I was supposed to stop at chapter 20 for the day, and accidentally got to 22. Haha. Umm, the internalized ableism is a lot more obvious as it goes on. Like her frustration/hate/derision over mobility devices and her shower chair--which while I understand is reasonable given she's a teenager and probably more self-conscious--also is a bit cringe-worthy. I always tell people that the time to get a mobility device is when you're thinking maybe you should get one. It took me a long time to put my safety before people's assumptions and how uncomfortable those assumptions made me and finally get a cane.

The plot is moving... slow right now. Right now there's only one suspect and it feels weak (so I'm hoping it's not that).

I like the introduction of the character Rachel. After dealing with so many people who only see Sophie only as an addict, and somehow the reason for Mina's death, hearing someone actually tell her that even IF she had been trying to score that it still wouldn't be her fault (only the fault of the person who pulled the trigger) was important. It seems standard that when no actual person is around to blame that blame has to go somewhere, even to a fellow victim. It's nice to see a story acknowledge how messed up it is that she's on the receiving end for so much hate and blame.

A bit saddened though that the cause of her addiction was as a result of a traumatic injury. It's pretty uncommon to become addicted to pain medications when in severe pain. A very small fraction of addictions begins this way. Our brains are as such that if we genuinely need pain medication, it works to treat the pain and there's a much-reduced chance of addiction. The real danger is usually people are/were prescribed meds for say... 30 days... for something that is likely to only cause 2-5 days of real pain (sprains, minor breaks, outpatient surgeries, etc.). I'm sure it was to make her situation more sympathetic and easier for readers to bond with her character, but the statistics don't back it up is all.

I totally agree that the internalized ableism is a lot more evident, and I hope that is an intentional comment on how society makes us feel about our bodies, but I have a feeling that's not what they're going for.

I also think the plot is moving slow and I'm not as keen to keep reading because of that - I don't really feel we have any suspects or any idea WHY this even happened and I feel like we are focusing too much on Sophie's back story and not enough on the task at hand - but maybe that's intentional?

Rachel seems nice and a good friend to Sophie. I agree that it’s nice to see a story acknowledge the messed up reality of victim blaming.

Yeah, I wish her addiction was not related to the injury.. It makes me sad that they are perpetuating the narrative that people seeking chronic pain relief are addicts? They could have used any other reason at all, but instead here we are seeing a scenario that is actually very rare portrayed as "the norm".. The chapter where she is stealing her dad's prescriptions, that is just so cringey.. I felt super uncomfortable reading that and I kept thinking how would her dad, who is supposed to be mega organised, not notice them missing until he finds them in her room? It seems much more believable that she'd steal them super slow so he wouldn’t notice. I feel like the whole junkie plot was hastily put together to find a reason to put them in that place at that time, and to then have Sophie be isolated from responsible adults for the "murder mystery" part of the plot to make sense.

Another thing I'm noticing is Sophie's relationship with her mum - she seems so cold and distant, but she obviously cares about her daughter? I feel like I'm missing something there.

Lastly, something that really stands out to me is that Sophie and Mina seemed to have a very close relationship that is striking me as romantic and not "just best friends".

Definitely in agreement with all you've brought up, Olga. The only thing I will say is the thing with her mother does get explained a bit (why her attitude is so cold), and I did find it very believable.

The prescription pad thing was definitely cringe-y.

And yeah, from early on Sophie and Mina seemed like more than friends to me too.