HOW IT WORKS
Every month we read a book. On the selected day, we talk about it. (Generally the last Thursday of the month).
Join in for whatever books you can. Read what you want and comment on what you want. Some readers write their own review on their blog and then link up to it, others just write their thoughts in the comments- it's up to you! If you write your own post and link up, please slap the image above on your post! Grazi!
JUNE BOOK:
DARK PLACES BY GILLIAN FLYNN
Below you will find that we have given you a few questions to get your brain thinking. These questions all come from Steph, who is my book club co-host this month. I love the questions she came up with- they foster great discussion! Remember, you never have to answer all the questions or any of the questions, they're simply to get your mind moving. (Or, if you are an eleventh grader you will ask me exactly how many questions you have to answer and how many sentences each answer has to be. Oh, teenagers!)
Questions:
1. Throughout the book, who did you think was the killer?
2. Later this summer, Dark Places the movie will be released. After reading the book, will you see the movie? Any predictions on what will be emphasized or downplayed as they adapt the book to a movie?
3. Does Calvin Diehl deserve the title “The Angel of Debt”? How do you feel about his actions- are they justified or is he simply a psychopath?
4. Does Ben’s punishment fit the crime?
5. Flynn is kind of known for her plot twists, were you able to predict any of them?
6. Who was your favorite / least favorite character? Why?
7. Could you have forgiven Ben?
8. As we jumped from POV to POV, was there one you enjoyed most? Least?
And here's Steph's review...
1. Throughout the book, who did you think was the killer?
Because I have read Gone Girl I suspected there'd be a pretty crazy twist. I could tell Flynn was trying to make us suspect Runner and that one seemed too obvious. When Patty found out her farm was going to be foreclosed on, that was when I started suspecting that she may have something to do with the murders. I originally thought that she had maybe killed her own kids and then tried to kill herself, but the way that the kids were killed was too gruesome to be the mom's doing...
A side note... I was pretty disappointed with who the killers were. It felt like such a cop out that the killer was just some random hit man. And that Diondra strangled Michelle. I guess Diondra's motive didn't seem quite strong enough to strangle an eleven year old like that. Then again, Diondra was freaking nuts. Also, it was way too unlikely that the murders would be committed at the same time by totally different people with totally different motives. I mean, that's just way too big of a coincidence and it bothered me.
2. Later this summer, Dark Places the movie will be released. After reading the book, will you see the movie? Any predictions on what will be emphasized or downplayed as they adapt the book to a movie?
I doubt that I will see the movie. The book was gritty and dark enough for me that seeing it played out on a movie will probably be more than I can stomach. I have a hard time with very violent tv shows and everything about the book was pretty graphic, so I don't know that I want to see it. One thing that drives me crazy is that Charlize Theron is playing Libby. Libby is supposed to be 4'11 with unproportionally large breasts and not very pretty. She is described as cartoony. And then they go and cast Charlize Theron, one of the prettiest actresses in the world to play Libby. It drives me nuts when filmmakers cast actors who don't fit the physical description given in the book and just go for pretty girls to play the role. (Another classic case of this is Myrtle in the Leo version of The Great Gatsby. She is supposed to be fat not a cute, skinny redhead!)
3. Does Calvin Diehl deserve the title “The Angel of Debt”? How do you feel about his actions- are they justified or is he simply a psychopath?
The whole Calvin Diehl thing drove me CRAZY. It was so out of the blue and random. I almost felt like Flynn realized with 20 pages left that she had no killer figured out for her crime. So let's throw some guy named Calvin in! With so much back story that went in to this book it drove me crazy that our ultimate murder was just some hit man. Pretty disappointing for me considering all the Krissi Cates and Trey and Runner drama I had to read.
4. Does Ben’s punishment fit the crime?
24 years in jail for being there when your little sister was killed? No. 24 years for knowing the truth and not saying anything for 24 years? Yes. Ben was another character who drove me nuts. I felt no sympathy for him- in his younger years or the present years. I don't understand why Ben is still loyal to Diondra when he's in jail. He said repeatedly when he was 15 that he didn't like her, that she was fiercely mean to him, that he knew he'd be unhappy with her. It didn't make sense to me that he would still be covering for her 24 years later when he didn't like her to begin with. Where was his motive?!? To me that was a total plot hole. (And you can say that he was trying to protect the baby, but wouldn't it be better that she was in jail and that he was out to raise the child?)
5. Flynn is kind of known for her plot twists, were you able to predict any of them?
Like I mentioned, I figured Patty had something to do with it. The Calvin thing was just stupid, how he had to chase down Debby. I hated that.
6. Who was your favorite / least favorite character? Why?
The characters were so so tough for me. I know books are not in the business of creating likeable characters as we discussed last month, but these characters were beyond unlikeable. All of them except maybe Aunt Diane. And Lyle. Gotta love me some Lyle. I agree with Steph in that I had such a particularly time with Libby. She was so tough and bratty and mean, and I just couldn't exactly figure out why I was supposed to care if she solved this case or not. I cared mostly for Lyle's sake, to be honest. I didn't like Ben at all and I didn't care that he was in jail, perhaps unjustly. If he didn't care to try to get himself out and give an honest testimony, why should I care? I think that was the hardest part for me about the whole book- I didn't like Libby or Ben enough to care if they solved the case or turned out happy so it was hard for me to invest in the story.
*Side note= one thing that I did love was how Libby was a total kleptomaniac of totally useless things. Like salt shakers and lotion bottles. I just loved that, and I can't quite figure out why. I think it shows her vulnerability, but also her tenacity. And I loved that she eventually nailed Diondra by stealing her lipstick.
7. Could you have forgiven Ben?
No. He allowed his sisters to be killed to protect his crazy girlfriend whom he hated... so no.
8. As we jumped from POV to POV, was there one you enjoyed most? Least?
1. Throughout the book, who did you think was the killer?
2. Later this summer, Dark Places the movie will be released. After reading the book, will you see the movie? Any predictions on what will be emphasized or downplayed as they adapt the book to a movie?
3. Does Calvin Diehl deserve the title “The Angel of Debt”? How do you feel about his actions- are they justified or is he simply a psychopath?
4. Does Ben’s punishment fit the crime?
5. Flynn is kind of known for her plot twists, were you able to predict any of them?
6. Who was your favorite / least favorite character? Why?
7. Could you have forgiven Ben?
8. As we jumped from POV to POV, was there one you enjoyed most? Least?
And here's Steph's review...
Shortly after seeing Gone Girl last winter, I devoured all
three of Gillian Flynn’s books. Flynn’s
writing style isn’t my favorite, however I find extremely difficult to put her
books down. I find it so interesting that this totally normal and pretty sweet looking
woman can write these crazy books, I mean who
thinks of plot twists like these!?! I say that, but obviously I love them- so maybe that makes me a sick person.
I thought it was interesting that this story took us away
from what I perceive to be Flynn’s comfort zone (Missouri) and into rural
Kansas. But don’t be fooled, this isn’t Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz’s Kansas
though, it’s a poor, sad, depressing, dirty Kansas no one likes to think or
talk about. I think the setting lends
itself to the storyline perfectly.
I’m not always a fan of chapters flipping between characters
and years, but in this instance I think it works. It was interesting to get the current day
perspective as well as the perspective the characters had in the moment. Reading other reviews online, I wasn’t
surprised to read that many people disliked the characters. I have a pity/hate
relationship with Ben. On one hand, I
pity him, I mean Diondra completely ruined his life but he remains loyal to her. On the other hand, he was a willing
participant. There were several points
where I just wanted to smack him silly (the
entire Krissi Cates situation). I have absolutely nothing nice to say about
Libby, she annoyed me throughout the entire book and I felt no connection to
her. Patty Day seriously might be the unluckiest woman around. Part of me
wishes she would have just caught a break, but that wouldn’t have made for as
exciting of a story, would it? I think
she tried, probably the best that she could with the crappy hand of cards she
had been dealt and for that I have to give her some credit. I will say, I think
Flynn creates interesting characters- they don’t seem cookie cutter to me. I do enjoy that her characters from one book
to the next are very different as well.
There were such weird and wild plot turns in Dark Places;
some I felt were more believable than others.
The Kill Club was weird to me, but I think there probably are clubs like
that – I mean there is a club for
everything these days. The whole
premise of Calvin Diehl was creepy; I could see someone like that existing in
real life. A crazy psychopath who thinks he’s helping people out. Eeks! I
alluded to this above, but I was absolutely not a fan of the Krissi Cates plot
twist. I think Flynn probably could have
given us a different more vanilla plot twist and the story would have been just
fine, but she chose that specific situation purely for the shock value. I suppose
when you are an author you can do those kind of things. I also think that the Diondra/Crystal plot
twist kind of went off the rails there at the end. The dinner, Crystal fessing up to knowing
what happened all those years ago, and then trying to kill Libby it all felt so
unnatural and fake to me.
I’ll probably watch the movie when it comes out; I’m very
interested to see how they adapt this one from the book to the big screen.
And Bon's review...
I have so many mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I just finished it tonight, and I probably need more time to think about it and process it before I crank out a review. But here goes anyway. I don't normally answer all of our book club questions in order, but Steph's questions are so great that I think I'll be able to hit up all my big thoughts pretty well just by covering her questions. You rock, Steph!
1. Throughout the book, who did you think was the killer?
Because I have read Gone Girl I suspected there'd be a pretty crazy twist. I could tell Flynn was trying to make us suspect Runner and that one seemed too obvious. When Patty found out her farm was going to be foreclosed on, that was when I started suspecting that she may have something to do with the murders. I originally thought that she had maybe killed her own kids and then tried to kill herself, but the way that the kids were killed was too gruesome to be the mom's doing...
A side note... I was pretty disappointed with who the killers were. It felt like such a cop out that the killer was just some random hit man. And that Diondra strangled Michelle. I guess Diondra's motive didn't seem quite strong enough to strangle an eleven year old like that. Then again, Diondra was freaking nuts. Also, it was way too unlikely that the murders would be committed at the same time by totally different people with totally different motives. I mean, that's just way too big of a coincidence and it bothered me.
2. Later this summer, Dark Places the movie will be released. After reading the book, will you see the movie? Any predictions on what will be emphasized or downplayed as they adapt the book to a movie?
I doubt that I will see the movie. The book was gritty and dark enough for me that seeing it played out on a movie will probably be more than I can stomach. I have a hard time with very violent tv shows and everything about the book was pretty graphic, so I don't know that I want to see it. One thing that drives me crazy is that Charlize Theron is playing Libby. Libby is supposed to be 4'11 with unproportionally large breasts and not very pretty. She is described as cartoony. And then they go and cast Charlize Theron, one of the prettiest actresses in the world to play Libby. It drives me nuts when filmmakers cast actors who don't fit the physical description given in the book and just go for pretty girls to play the role. (Another classic case of this is Myrtle in the Leo version of The Great Gatsby. She is supposed to be fat not a cute, skinny redhead!)
3. Does Calvin Diehl deserve the title “The Angel of Debt”? How do you feel about his actions- are they justified or is he simply a psychopath?
The whole Calvin Diehl thing drove me CRAZY. It was so out of the blue and random. I almost felt like Flynn realized with 20 pages left that she had no killer figured out for her crime. So let's throw some guy named Calvin in! With so much back story that went in to this book it drove me crazy that our ultimate murder was just some hit man. Pretty disappointing for me considering all the Krissi Cates and Trey and Runner drama I had to read.
4. Does Ben’s punishment fit the crime?
24 years in jail for being there when your little sister was killed? No. 24 years for knowing the truth and not saying anything for 24 years? Yes. Ben was another character who drove me nuts. I felt no sympathy for him- in his younger years or the present years. I don't understand why Ben is still loyal to Diondra when he's in jail. He said repeatedly when he was 15 that he didn't like her, that she was fiercely mean to him, that he knew he'd be unhappy with her. It didn't make sense to me that he would still be covering for her 24 years later when he didn't like her to begin with. Where was his motive?!? To me that was a total plot hole. (And you can say that he was trying to protect the baby, but wouldn't it be better that she was in jail and that he was out to raise the child?)
5. Flynn is kind of known for her plot twists, were you able to predict any of them?
Like I mentioned, I figured Patty had something to do with it. The Calvin thing was just stupid, how he had to chase down Debby. I hated that.
6. Who was your favorite / least favorite character? Why?
The characters were so so tough for me. I know books are not in the business of creating likeable characters as we discussed last month, but these characters were beyond unlikeable. All of them except maybe Aunt Diane. And Lyle. Gotta love me some Lyle. I agree with Steph in that I had such a particularly time with Libby. She was so tough and bratty and mean, and I just couldn't exactly figure out why I was supposed to care if she solved this case or not. I cared mostly for Lyle's sake, to be honest. I didn't like Ben at all and I didn't care that he was in jail, perhaps unjustly. If he didn't care to try to get himself out and give an honest testimony, why should I care? I think that was the hardest part for me about the whole book- I didn't like Libby or Ben enough to care if they solved the case or turned out happy so it was hard for me to invest in the story.
*Side note= one thing that I did love was how Libby was a total kleptomaniac of totally useless things. Like salt shakers and lotion bottles. I just loved that, and I can't quite figure out why. I think it shows her vulnerability, but also her tenacity. And I loved that she eventually nailed Diondra by stealing her lipstick.
7. Could you have forgiven Ben?
No. He allowed his sisters to be killed to protect his crazy girlfriend whom he hated... so no.
8. As we jumped from POV to POV, was there one you enjoyed most? Least?
I probably enjoyed Patty's POV the most. I am 29 next week and she was only 32 so I am closest in age to her, and I identified with her struggle of trying to provide and take care of her family. I think I just really sympathized with her and enjoyed seeing things from her point of view. At the beginning of the book I had a really hard time with the constant switching back and forth and the POV in the past went SO SLOW at first. Gosh, some of those sections dragged a lot.
One last thing- I really enjoy Flynn's writing style. Sometimes I got frustrated because I wanted the plot to move quicker and she was going on and on about some porcelain bunny that they used to put on top of the toilet, but in spite of myself, I kind of ended up appreciating it. I enjoyed the extra taste all those little description gave- like it allowed me to see and understand the characters a little bit better. There's one part where Ben is describing Diondra's cousins and how they threw change out the window- not just pennies and nickels, but quarters. And how that's how you can tell the difference between people who have a lot of money and people who don't- by the way they treat their quarters. Because several quarters can buy a meal and people who don't have money don't throw away quarters. Gosh, I loved that. It's just one of those thoughts that sticks with you. A totally new and interesting way to describe something that at the same time has an old familiarity to it. And tonight when I was cleaning off the counter and saw the quarters in Greg's spare change, I thought of that.
(Also loved the way she described Magda's neighborhood- like a bunch of ugly girls trying to pretend they're not ugly by wearing lots of make up and nice clothes.)
Alright, I'm done. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Comment your thoughts below or post the link to the book review that you did. Steph and I will both try hard to respond to all comments so we can get a nice, healthy discussion going. Can't wait!
JULY'S BOOK CLUB IS WILD BY CHERYL STRAYED. DISCUSSION WILL BE THE LAST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH, JULY 30.
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