8. O’Farrell creates distinct voices for the three main characters in her novel and shifts between these points of view to tell her story. Why do you think the author made this choice? What do these different voices reveal about Iris, Esme, and Kitty? How does this technique affect your reading experience?
9. Identify some of the various ways in which the title, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, relates to the story. What does Esme’s description of her “vanishing act” on page 91 symbolize? (Does anyone still have the book and can you shed light on what this is?)
10. What do you feel the book tells us about mental institutions? Do you think people’s attitudes have changed since the first half of the 20th Century? On page 57, Iris discovers some of the more outrageous reasons that women in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were sent to “mad houses” like Cauldstone. Given how life was during that period, according to the novel’s descriptions, what do you think drove this trend? Do you think changes have occurred in our view and treatment of women who don’t “behave”? Why or why not?
11. How did you find the end of the book? Can you think of any alternative endings that might have worked? What do you imagine will happen to these characters after the last page is turned? Has the author satisfied your interest in these characters? Did Esme get justice in the end?
12. Final thoughts and please rate the book 1-5 stars.
8. Once I figured out that the - in front of words was Kitty "speaking", it all made a lot more sense. I feel like she was speaking in her mind, the truth, but jumbled and in snippits how I think her poor dementia mind in thinking. I liked the different ways of writing to show each person, I had to sleuth and put it together to make the complete story.
ReplyDelete9. If anyone still have the book, I would love to know what this is referring to. I had an ah ha moment in the previous question in the fact that she really vanished from life, bc they left her and never spoke about her. So basically she did not exist to anyone. I love love when books and movies make that reference to title, love that.
10. The mental institution was so very sad and I was so sad for her and for all the women in there. Clearly, the reasons for commitment were loose, and probably there were not many diagnosis' of true disorders, so many of these woman may have actually been "insane". Today there are treatments and other options and not a direct path to an institution.
11. I found the end shocking and had to read it three times to make sure I read it correctly. I kept thinking, what? really? how? why? I was not satisfied with the end only because I wanted more. I wanted it to be tied up. I really really really wanted Esme and Kitty to have a conversation, and if they did, we were not privy to it...but I am doubtful if they did.
If I had to write the story out further, I would have Alex and Iris get together. I think Esme got justice, although clearly I am not endorsing what she did, but it was shocking, and I can see why she did it, perhaps if not insane, certainly not totally "normal". She probably will be punished, depending on how the truth comes out, not sure what her future holds. Perhaps she and Iris form a relationship and Iris learns more about the family history?
12. I loved this book. I wanted more. Still do. Going to see what else she has written. I give it 5 stars.
ps-Hope this all makes sense, if disjointed I apologize, M is on the phone to my left and hard to focus...but wanted to write my thoughts when I had a minute. Can't wait to hear what everyone else has to say!!
8. I think it's an interesting choice to switch between voices the way she does. Esme, having spent almost her whole life in the institution, is revealed in snipets of memories from the past, like scenes from a movie. Her awareness of the present is in stark contradiction to this, like time was frozen for her the moment she was put in that hospital. I wondered if O'Farrell was trying to disorient us by changing from past to present, switching into stream-of-consciousness writing, one character into another, etc. It's like putting a puzzle together, where you get a clue here, a different clue there. One Amazon review said "The character's dementia and madness give O'Farrell licence for a less literal approach to writing." Esme's thoughts are very lucid the whole time and Kitty's, in contrast, are definitely not. I like how each sister had to remember the past, but they each came to it from a different perspective, and we can see how their lives turned out as they did and that they were irreconcilable. Did anyone else wonder who Kitty was talking to? I assumed at first that she was finally telling the truth to Iris, but then we see that that can't really have happened. Was it just her thoughts? Was she talking to a nurse? Anyway, the constant jumping makes this book almost a thriller and really kept me reading.
ReplyDelete9. Esme has the ability to disassociate herself from any unpleasant situation. Like on the beach, when she's in the rip tide almost drowninngand she "sees" herself safe with her family on shore. Or how she says she gets really quiet and tries to absorb her presence so that she's there as little as possible. This is her defence mechanism.
10. I think people were so restrained by society's rules then. Esme rebelled against the strictness of having to find a husband, among other things. Kitty and Esme were fine before then, but Kitty melded into society's will for her, got jealous of the attention Esme was getting from that awful boy, and everything changed. Of course times have changed! There are other ways to ostracize someone who isn't following society's rules besides making them disappear. I do think that it's amazing that women were treated this way, and it wasn't even a century ago. So recently were they traded into marriage like it was a baseball team, their feelings having nothing to do with it. That Kitty agreed with these "rules" but Esme (and Iris) does not says a lot about each of them.
Also, Esme's life was just lost really, and that is so sad to me. She is so creative, so intense, so loving. Think what kind of mother she would have been. Think what her life could have been. I'm sure she sees Iris and just marvels... living alone, dating men when she wants to, owns her own shop. Free - just the opposite of her in the institution.
11. I thought the ending was very rushed. O'Farrell elaborates so much throughout the whole story and then it's just over like that? Well, I want to know a bunch of things. First, how did it suddenly dawn on Iris what Esme was about to do inside the nursing home? Then, she was holding her hand as if she understood, so was she able to protect Esme from going to jail or something? And also, could the nurses/doctors tell that Kitty had been smothered? Surely Esme knew what she was doing, but she doesn't seem to feel ANY remorse, as if she'd predetermined what had to happen and it was inevitable. I can't imagine feeling that much hatred toward someone, never letting it show, and just calmly "dealing with it" like she did. Of couse, she had eons of time to think it over! Did she feel better afterwards?
ReplyDeleteI also can't imagine a family secret that carries out this long! When Esme was looking at the tiny picture of what was her son on Iris' bulletin board, I think I knew.
12. 4.5 stars. I couldn't put this book down. I like how O'Farrell treats the reader as if we are intelligent and can read the clues and piece it all together. The only thing I didn't love was that Iris wasn't developed much as a character. I want to read O'Farrell's latest book and her others too.
"We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents."
One more thought...
ReplyDeleteMaybe Esme thought that since Kitty got to help decide to put her in the institution, pretty much taking away her life, AND Kitty took away her very son and so soon after he was born (how could she just watch Esme struggling to hold onto him???), that Esme deserved to make a life-altering decision to affect Kitty.
I think Kitty was talking to no one. I think she was just thinking those things in her mind. Going between past and present in little bits, remembering her childhood and then pondering if she likes yogurt or not. I think the thoughts are all the truth, but stuck in her mind with the dementia and not spoken. Or if they were spoken, and I can recall a few times that she made comment where the nurse did not respond, so perhaps not lucid? I feel her dementia was advanced and she was really stuck in herself.
ReplyDeleteI think Iris knew what Esme did when she looked up and saw the curtain flapping and people rushing inside, and then once upstairs and in the room, she took the scene in and knew. I think she did hold her hand to protect her...and perhaps in some way, planned to do what she needed to in order to keep her safe. I fully believe Iris knows that she killed her, perhaps not how...but that she did. I guess it could come out on an autopsy? Or would it just show that she stopped breathing? Or would they even run one? Part of me feels a tug to Esme and does not want her to be prosecuted, not excusing it...but I feel sympathy to the whole situation.
I will eventually get around to commenting on all these questions.....
ReplyDeleteOk- this is the FIRST time in 2 days I have been able to sit down and read and comment- AAA-life is too busy!
ReplyDeleteI don't feel sorry for Kitty- not that she should have been murdered, but what she did was awful- first, contributing to the institutionalizing of her sister (for no good reason) and then stealing her baby. Unforgiveable.
Esme probably didn't consider the consequences of killing Kitty because she's already been locked up her whole life- imprisoned. It probably in her mind couldn't get any worse. Even though she was technically "free" from the asylum, really, what kind of life was ahead of her? No one knew she existed, and she has no past- she just vanished. Why not take revenge?
Wow, I'm finally able to comment! First off, I loved the book. I'm surprised since it was so tragic and sad, but I guess it moved so quickly that I never had a chance to talk myself into stopping. I had to read the ending twice to make sure I understood what happened. I'm still not sure what the significance of Alex's comment about "it's only been you..." means or if the timing was of particular importance. I really thought Esme wanted to visit with her sister and get answers - had she really moved past that and just wanted revenge? Hard to imagine. Then again, I can't imagine how Kitty continued on with her life knowing she helped contribute to the life-time institutionalization/imprisonment of her dear sister. I've been stuck on thinking about this for a while. I didn't perceive her character as particularly mean spirited or cruel, so I've only come up with a couple of reasons for Kitty's behavior. 1) Out of sight, out of mind. As time passed, Kitty forced herself to forget. 2) Kitty might have imagined that Esme was free to leave once she reached some age. This seems doubtful, though. 3) Kitty resented Esme so much for what she thought Esme had with Jaime. The way I read it, Kitty thought that Esme and Jamie were having an intense love affair while she was the one in love with him. Kitty was so hurt and it only made matters much worse when she desperately wanted a child and was never able to consummate her marriage to even start working on that goal. 4) If Esme ever got out, she would tell everyone Kitty's secret, and that's something Kitty couldn't live with.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Naomi - 4.5 stars for me too. I liked the story, but I'm still struggling with the whole Alex/Iris thing. Weird, eh? I would have liked to see it a bit more developed. They aren't actually related, and don't look alike, so it wouldn't be freaky-earth-shattering if they got together - she would have to stop introducing him as her brother though ;o)
Sorry I didn't answer by number - when I started writing I thought I would only have a couple of final thoughts type sentences and that's it. Oops.
I am horribly late completing these, so I'll just say I give this 5 stars. I loved the different voices and the way the story unfolded. I wanted more at the end, but only because I was so invested and was enjoying the story so much, not because it felt unfinished. Great choice!
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