DISUK Book Club -Too Close to Home, Linwood Barclay

[wideeyes]

Please be aware I've changed the order of the reading list in my first post. One of the books won't be available in paperback until July 23rd so I've moved it to September and shuffled everything up by a month.

will order from Amazon and take part next month, as finish my exams next week.

 

[Dimplenose]

I'm not going to be able to post again until Monday evening so I'll pose a couple more of the questions from the book tonight. If anyone else has the edition with the reading group questions at the back then please feel free to post the questions yourself, otherwise you'll have to wait for the next batch.

"We're often most repelled by people who share our own flaws. Eva confesses that she never really liked her son. But what are some of the traits that Kevin and his mother have in common?"


"Why do people have children, when kids are expensive and exhausting, and the risks of something going wrong are so high?"

 

[dolphingirl47]

"Do you think that Kevin was guilty of damaging his little sister's eye? If so, what evidence do you find for this assumption? Would it stand up in court?

i struggled with this one, i beleive he did it with all my being but we are not actually given conclusive proof ! in my mind he is indeed guilty of this but i can't prove it with the evidence we are given.

Celuia is a timid child and i think kevin had a hold over her so much that she would have done it if he told her too

I am with Natalie on this one. I am absolutely convinced he did it, but have no proof. The closest to proof that we come is that Celia suddenly seems to avoid her brother when previously she adored him.

"Franklin always looks on the bright side of parenthood, and interprets whatever Kevin gets up to in the most favourable light possible. Do you find this eagerness to forgive his own child a break sypathetic? Or is Franklin a fool?

I am not sure that I would go as far as calling him a fool, but he definitely seems to have the rose coloured glasses on as far as Kevin is concerned. He is subscribing to the view "boys will be boys" and explains everything that Kevin does with that. I think he projects an image of himself as a boy on Kevin rather than actually seeing him as a person in his own right.

I'm not going to be able to post again until Monday evening so I'll pose a couple more of the questions from the book tonight. If anyone else has the edition with the reading group questions at the back then please feel free to post the questions yourself, otherwise you'll have to wait for the next batch.

"We're often most repelled by people who share our own flaws. Eva confesses that she never really liked her son. But what are some of the traits that Kevin and his mother have in common?"

Both find it hard to relate properly to other people and both appear to be cold


"Why do people have children, when kids are expensive and exhausting, and the risks of something going wrong are so high?"

That is the big question and one I have asked myself plenty of times. That is the one area were I can really understand Eva. I think I would feel the same about having to give up my job and sharing DH with somebody else, but unlike Eva I have drawn the consequences from the fact that I am simply not mother material and won't have any children.

Corinna

 

[natalielongstaff]

"Why do people have children, when kids are expensive and exhausting, and the risks of something going wrong are so high?"

I think many people go into having kids with rose coloured ideals, other children behave badly through bad parenting and therefore your parenting will be great and your children angels

Also being a parent is a steep learning curve and we learn from our mistakes... so until you make them its imposible to know what impact it may have

 

[joolz1910]

I think many people go into having kids with rose coloured ideals, other children behave badly through bad parenting and therefore your parenting will be great and your children angels

Also being a parent is a steep learning curve and we learn from our mistakes... so until you make them its imposible to know what impact it may have

Wise words.

I think the answer lies with Shriver herself. In interviews she is unequivocal about her distaste for motherhood. I think Shriver was trying to show the potential damage that can be done when you have a 'reluctant' mother. She says her own mother was devastated when she fell pregnant with her older brother...

My personal opinion is that the rewards (for me) far outweigh the expense, exhaustion and potential to go wrong.

 

[joolz1910]

We are doing 'Lucky' next, aren't we?

I saw it online for £5. I was in town, so I popped into Waterstones to buy it - the store price was £7.99. I told her it was £5 at their online store. She said the prices were often different. Well, I opted to buy it online for £5, with free UK delivery, points on my Waterstones card and 10% off with Quidco. And they wonder why highstreet stores are closing down...

 

[Dimplenose]

We are doing 'Lucky' next, aren't we?

I saw it online for £5. I was in town, so I popped into Waterstones to buy it - the store price was £7.99. I told her it was £5 at their online store. She said the prices were often different. Well, I opted to buy it online for £5, with free UK delivery, points on my Waterstones card and 10% off with Quidco. And they wonder why highstreet stores are closing down...

No we're still reading The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg during May and discussing from 1st June.

Lucky is our June read/July discussion.

 

[Dimplenose]

Do we want to carry on with the Kevin questions? If so here are the next two:-

"While you were reading the novel, did you ever wonder what Franklin was doin, and why he never seemed to write back to Eva?

"Eva was sued in civil court for being a negligent parent. Many school shooting incidents have resulted in similar suits. If you were the jusdge in that case, what ruling would you have handed down? Are there any other parties in this story who seem to you conspicuously remiss?

 

[Dimplenose]

I must admit that the page 200 revelation when the book suddenly became a much easier read was partly due to it dawning on me at this point that Franklin was dead. I then became keen to know how he died and why Eva didn't have custody of Celia.

(I'd assumed that Franklin couldn't cope with the aftermath of Thursday and had killed himself and his daughter.)

 

[natalielongstaff]

"While you were reading the novel, did you ever wonder what Franklin was doin, and why he never seemed to write back to Eva?
[/B]

Yes.... i was not surprised by the fact that he had died !

 

[jen_uk]

I thought that Franklin had left Eva and the letters she was writing were a way of asking him to come back, I was really shocked when it turned out he was dead.

I'm really torn over whether she should have been sued, I do think its partly her responsibility though. In other school shootings if the weapon was left lying around in the house and easily available to the child then I think the parents have to accept responsibilty.

 

[Dimplenose]

I'm really torn over whether she should have been sued, I do think its partly her responsibility though. In other school shootings if the weapon was left lying around in the house and easily available to the child then I think the parents have to accept responsibilty.

In Kevin's case he was given the weapon as a hobby. Perhaps Franklin was more to blame - although he wasn't sueable owing to his death.

 

[Dimplenose]

Does the novel explain why high school killings have become a social phenomenom in the United States? And did you want an explanation?

Is Eva a bad mother? Is she too hard on herself, or is she not hard enough?

What do you believe ultimately motivated Kevin to stage Thursday?

These are the last questions in the book. Feel free to ask your own otherwise I'll see you in June when we disuss The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg .

 

[dolphingirl47]

Do we want to carry on with the Kevin questions? If so here are the next two:-

"While you were reading the novel, did you ever wonder what Franklin was doin, and why he never seemed to write back to Eva?

"Eva was sued in civil court for being a negligent parent. Many school shooting incidents have resulted in similar suits. If you were the jusdge in that case, what ruling would you have handed down? Are there any other parties in this story who seem to you conspicuously remiss?

I never realised until literally a couple of pages before it was revealed that Franklin was dead. I assumed that he simply could not forgive her for being so critical of Kevin and that he blamed her for what happened. So I just assumed that he left her and somehow got custody of Celia.

I don't think it was fair that Eva was sued. She was the only one who had some idea what kind of personality Kevin had and nobody believed her. If anybody is to blame then it is Franklin for turning a blind eye to what Kevin is really like and even buying the crossbow against Eva's wishes.

Corinna

 

[wilma-bride]

I might join in with you all next month, if that's OK - I'm afraid I really didn't enjoy this month's book (read it a few months back) so didn't feel qualified to join in. Some of the future books look good though so if am allowed to dip in and out, I would like to join you

 

[natalielongstaff]

I might join in with you all next month, if that's OK - I'm afraid I really didn't enjoy this month's book (read it a few months back) so didn't feel qualified to join in. Some of the future books look good though so if am allowed to dip in and out, I would like to join you

ive started reading peanut butter and jam, its quite hard going

 

[joolz1910]

I might join in with you all next month, if that's OK - I'm afraid I really didn't enjoy this month's book (read it a few months back) so didn't feel qualified to join in. Some of the future books look good though so if am allowed to dip in and out, I would like to join you

Oh blimey. I seem to have breached etiquette here. Sorry, I didn't know you had to sign up, I just jumped in. Can I do the same as Wilma-bride and dip in and out? Bit too late for me to ask...

 

[natalielongstaff]

Oh blimey. I seem to have breached etiquette here. Sorry, I didn't know you had to sign up, I just jumped in. Can I do the same as Wilma-bride and dip in and out? Bit too late for me to ask...

you can pop in whenever you want im sure x

 

[Dimplenose]

Oh blimey. I seem to have breached etiquette here. Sorry, I didn't know you had to sign up, I just jumped in. Can I do the same as Wilma-bride and dip in and out? Bit too late for me to ask...

I didn't think we had any etiquette here. Anyone can pop in and out - it does help if you've read that month's book. it's nice to get different points of view.

The more people the merrier.

 

[higgy66]

I've just finished it - I'm so glad I read your comments and stuck with it as after page 60 I couldn't put it down! Just thought I'd add my thoughts - get in practice for the next book!

The first question is
"Was Kevin just born wicked, or is his cold heart the inevitable consequence of an unaffectionate mother? Does the novel answer this question? And do you think the answer to this clasic "nature verses nurture" debate - whether character is formed by one's environment or is innate - has to be one or the other?"[/QUOTE]

Throughout the book I kept swinging from Kevin being born evil to turning evil. However, I came to the conclusion that the rejection from his mother from birth and the way his father compensated by smothering him definitely had a part to play. You know yourself when babies cry if you pick them up and talk soothingly to them they stop - but if you're tired and fraught then they pick up on that and cry even more.

Eva definitely treated Kevin badly from the start and no baby deserves to be treated in such a way. All he had done was reject her when she tried feeding him - big deal - hardly "evil" get over it Eva! She was so self centred and obsessed with her life and with Franklin that I feel she was heavily to blame.

How can somebody go from wanting children to - as soon as Frankiln says yes she changed her mind in an instant!

"Do you completely trust Eva's version of events? More than once she admits that she was mistaken about something she had assumed that Kevin dis. Is she perhaps exaggerating her son's malignancy to make herself seem less blameworthy, or was she just the only party in this story who foresaw what he was capable of well in advance of Thursday?"

I do believe Eva's version of events however, we can all see events differently but as she was so intent on Kevin being evil she always assumed the worse rather than be proved he was guilty as charged.

"Do you think that Kevin was guilty of damaging his little sister's eye? If so, what evidence do you find for this assumption? Would it stand up in court?

Yes I do think he was guilty and I can't believe as parents that neither of them gave Celia the third degree! Are you telling me you wouldn't want to know EXACTLY what happened. She was 6 years old and a 6 year old can communicate what went on.

"Franklin always looks on the bright side of parenthood, and interprets whatever Kevin gets up to in the most favourable light possible. Do you find this eagerness to forgive his own child a break sypathetic? Or is Franklin a fool?

I found it frustrating! Having said that - we're only seeing things from Eva's point of view. As parents if you don't think your child is evil you would try to see things in the most favouravble light - nobody wants to believe their kids done something wrong but hey guys - how many times does it take to wake up and smell the coffee!

"We're often most repelled by people who share our own flaws. Eva confesses that she never really liked her son. But what are some of the traits that Kevin and his mother have in common?"

"Why do people have children, when kids are expensive and exhausting, and the risks of something going wrong are so high?"

They were both slighly "up" themselves and thought they were better than your average Joe Black

Beats me! OMG what have I done!

Do we want to carry on with the Kevin questions? If so here are the next two:-

"While you were reading the novel, did you ever wonder what Franklin was doin, and why he never seemed to write back to Eva?


"Eva was sued in civil court for being a negligent parent. Many school shooting incidents have resulted in similar suits. If you were the jusdge in that case, what ruling would you have handed down? Are there any other parties in this story who seem to you conspicuously remiss?

To be honest about 1/2 way through I guessed he was dead but I had no idea that Kevin had done it until the final chapters and it featured that "Thursday"

As a judge you would not have sight to Eva's confessional letters so on that basis you would find them not guilty - you can't blame parents for what their kids do? However, had I been the judge with access to the details within the book I'd have sent her down! How can any mother take an instant dislike to a poor defenceless baby who's only need is the love and care of it's mother. She was so self centred and obssessed with her own needs and wants that Kevin never standed a chance - her obsession with Franklin was poor Kevin's downfall.

Having said that it's still no excuse to kill anybody.


Can I go now Miss!