Were you surprised by the ending? Which characters do and do not receive “mercy”? Do you think the book treats forgiveness as something one has to earn or deserve, or something given freely?
I loved the ending. I was so happy to see Eddie was alive (I never gave up hope) and that he built such a satisfying life for himself. I appreciated his outlook and the grace he showed toward Ivan. I think the message the author wanted to convey is that mercy is given freely, not earned and certainly not deserved. Ivan did nothing to earn or deserve the mercy, grace, and forgiveness Eddie exhibited, and was completely oblivious to it, in fact, because he never completed the “searching moral inventory” he started in AA or took any other steps to determine Eddie’s fate and ask for forgiveness. Ivan was the loser in this tale.
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I was not surprised and expected that Eddie survived. I did not think there was a question of mercy or forgiveness, it was stories about life that was sometimes good and sometimes not. It did not evoke much sentiment for me for any of the characters.
I assumed Eddie had survived, and I did like the ending . I think there is another option that you are overlooking, people can grant themselves mercy, Ivan could have forgiven himself but that option takes a lot of work and requires some often painful examinations of your role in the event. That is what he refused to do, choosing instead to remain in that area of reliving and regretting a choice he made long ago. I think Silber provides us with vignettes and places us as observer so we can witness how mercy often is not a gift others can give us, but one we often need to offer to ourselves. Is mercy the same as forgiveness? Every character seemed to have various regrets, some took the opportunity to reach out and try to resolve those, however, there was then the question of whether they were really seeking to make amends or simply in need of financial support. Eddie recognizes that Ivan must have suffered for his behavior. Ivan has, and , does still suffer, and he was too ashamed to even really look for Eddie further because then he would have to confront his betrayal. Isabel carries guilt about Franz, but he is deceased, can she forgive herself for her foolish behavior? Nini, too, has regrets. Everyone has regrets in life, some in areas of bigger magnitude. Will Greg one day wish he had not bullied Astrid into giving him more money? Maybe. I think the key is to try to make amends when possible and sometimes people will never offer you mercy because they are not willing or able to, and even if they do , you must offer mercy and forgiveness to yourself. As Eddie says “ where was there ever enough mercy?”
I expected Eddie to be alive at the end of the book. However, I kept hoping that Eddie and Ivan might reconnect, which didn’t happen. Eddie was so forgiving of Ivan’s actions. He certainly did show mercy. I liked that the “mercy” theme appeared in other character’s stories.
I was not surprised by the ending. I had anticipated that Eddie would survive, because it gave the book such a good ironic twist. Here was Ivan regretting all his life that he had betrayed Eddie, and he assumed that Eddie had died. So Ivan did not receive mercy in that he could not forgive himself.
Although mercy is the title and certainly a theme in the book, I thought it did not feel organic as a theme. Rather, the author chose to add a reflection on mercy at the end of some of the chapters. On p. 170, Nini says “There was only so much mercy in the world.” But she is talking about the fixed doses on her morphine pump, which is hardly a thoughtful discussion of mercy as a human act.
On the last page (p. 240), Eddie says, "Where was there ever enough mercy? Nowhere on the planet. No wonder people asked and asked for it.” A lovely quote, but not convincingly tied in to what Eddie had been talking about. It felt tacked on to me–tacked on to highlight the ostensible theme.
The best “mercy” quote is from Ivan early on. He says about the betrayal: “I knew what I was like. . .merciless and fast on my feet.” So Ivan’s merciless and cowardly act of betraying Eddie is the springboard for the rest of the book.
What surprised me was there wasn’t much of a full circle tying Ivan, Eddie, and all the characters in between to a real conclusion. The ending left me wanting more and wondering why the author brought Eddie in that the end. I don’t feel there was closure on the purpose of the last chapter/story.
No, I was not surprised by the ending. I liked the ambiguity of Eddie and Ivan never finding each other again after Ivan abandoned Eddied in the ER. Life can be like that–people don’t cross paths again, for many different reasons.
As for mercy: Eddie receives mercy because he lives and gradually forgives Ivan for his betrayal. Ivan does not receive mercy because he has acted terribly and can never forgive himself (especially because he thinks that Eddie died in the ER). Astrid/Ginger I’m not sure about. She led an interesting life and came to see that money is not so important (when she gave Greg the money he demanded because she had enough to spare). These are the main characters and the others are only tangentially related to Ivan and Eddie and Ginger’s story.
It seems that almost everyone received mercy in one form or another. I guess Ivan probably did not except that he escaped the result of leaving Eddie for dead. I was not sure that Eddie had survived but it did provide the right ending.
Since I had no feelings for the characters the act of forgiveness was not very highlighted in my reading. I saw it more as remorse for something that had happened in the past, than them seeking forgiveness. Not surprised by the ending - what happened to Eddie happens many many times - often part of the stupidity of youth. But the majority of those youth end up leading a fairly normal life, as they age out of irresponsibility.
I liked the ending; I was not surprised. I think “Mercy” is the perfect title and it lends itself to such great conversation!
Mercy is earned, is deserved, is given, is taken, is shared, is bestowed, is endless….
I agree with the general opinion that the book overall treats forgiveness as something given freely as the author ends the book with Eddie forgiving Ivan without question.
I was glad that Eddie survived and thrived. I would have liked a tighter connection to the characters of this novel. The authors style of very loosely connecting characters and events did not engage me.
I wasn’t surprised by the ending and felt that Eddie was probably alive all along. I wish that Ivan could have met up with him and received the mercy that Eddie had given him. I feel Ivan lived a tormented life because he couldn’t forgive himself for his actions. He needed to own them first and then examine himself and realize that we all grow and forgiving ourselves is part of that process.