Catherine snoops and finds Carol’s diary, which contains disturbing information about her past. Yet, she chooses to remain friends with her, eventually trusting her completely. Why do you suppose this is? Do you think you could have stayed friends with Carol after learning such details?
It appears that Catherine had to re-evaluate her snooping policy, but her reasoning won out. Perhaps not s realistic as many who had read the same but good for the story.
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Finding Carol’s journals didn’t really add any plot line intrigue for me. This discovery wasn’t a huge factor in the escapades of the residents. The Carol who wrote the comments we were privy to didn’t seem like the present day Carol.
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Totally agree and feel like they could have left that whole part out.
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Did Catherine really stay friends with her after that or did she use the information she gathered about Carol’s “true nature” to fit her own purposes in the ending? It makes me wonder if Catherine really was shrewd befriending Carol to get her to cover for her later. If I had found the journal, I would have recommended Carol go to therapy as she still had some unresolved issues she needed to work out.
Honestly….I would have been freaked out!
Yeah, that would have been enough for me too. I’d be looking for another senior living facility for sure. Definitely wouldn’t be making friends with such a disturbed individual!
If you ever kept a diary and went back to read it, you’ve probably been surprised at the things you wrote! I certainly have been. I would not have put much stock into Carol’s diary, especially after getting to know the person.
I would have been fairly freaked out. I certainly would have put myself on high alert and maybe tried not to be alone with her.
I agree with you NanK. What was the value of it to the story? I don’t remember if the journal had dates on it or not. She may have been releasing some of her frustration that she felt as she tried to reinvent herself. How would I react? Probably concerned and on guard with my relationship with Carol. I really felt she was looking for love and acceptance and had been all of her life. Perhaps if she had met the right kinds of people, she might never had explored life as a serial killer. Just a thought!!!
I think the value to the story was it showed that the friends were completely aware of her past. It made their acceptance of her more poingiant
I thought that was a fun fact to throw in the novel. I would have freaked out at first, but would have questioned Carol because I did value her as a friend instead of dropping the friendship right away,
TOTALLY agree. I think the author was stretching out his writing, and it didn’t work.
Oh, that’s a tough one. After stepping back a bit to wrap my head around things, I would have continued a friendship with Carol, assuming the retirement home environment was a safe space.
Some residents are very lonely and introverted by nature. Thus, they will stay friends with whomever they can establish a link with.
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Is this what is known in literary circles as “a red herring”?
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Yes, in that this piece of information was a distraction and not vital to the solution. The existence of diaries might have raised suspicions; however, by this time the residents knew of Carol’s past. So, in my opinion it was a red herring.
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I’d like to think I would have remained friends with Carol, but it would definitely have freaked me out a bit. Even if it was in the past, it would still be disturbing that a friend had those thoughts. I do think the author probably just put it in the book to reaffirm the suspicion on Carol.
This was the only part of the book that I felt impeded the story instead of advancing it. Everyone knew she was a killer, so the idea that her diary might include things about killing shouldn’t be a surprise. If this were ever turned into a show, I wonder if it would remain in the script. I would like to believe that I could remain friends with her, but (as others have mentioned) I can’t imagine feeling comfortable enough to take along walk in the woods with her.