Emma’s answer to “Hey, question about the ending (so please do not continue reading unless you have finished the book…” > Likes and Comments
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When Dickie asks Victor what if they kill a red squirrel by mistake in the dark at night, Victor says there are not red squirrels (but PJ sees one but has no evidence). I think this also shows that the mechanic as a grey squirrel is not a native to the land like the children but Victor is urging him in general to murder of any kind.
Rose also begs Cass not to return home from college. She saw the tragedy in the future.
Don’t forget the curse Imelda’s father put on her on her wedding day… she’d lose her children and be all alone.
Yes oh. My god! It's the book that keeps on giving
Am I miss remembering or did Rose say that Dickie dies in the woods!? Maybe I dreamed that …. But going into the ending was waiting for victor to shoot Dickie.
I can't remember this, I just remember the links with playing red squirrel, gray squirrel, that a man in the next village over kills his family and the comments that in the end they just kill the squirrel in the dark and don't care about the colours.
If I remember correctly, Rose said something about the poor squirrel dying in the woods, not Dickie.
…and Cass’s father predicted on her wedding day that she loss everything, including her children (child). In truth, I found the ending somewhat traumatizing. If the children are killed, everything would fall apart. No hope for Imelda and Dickey, who was already losing his sanity.
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When Dickie asks Victor what if they kill a red squirrel by mistake in the dark at night, Victor says there are not red squirrels (but PJ sees one but has no evidence). I think this also shows that the mechanic as a grey squirrel is not a native to the land like the children but Victor is urging him in general to murder of any kind.
Rose also begs Cass not to return home from college. She saw the tragedy in the future.
Don’t forget the curse Imelda’s father put on her on her wedding day… she’d lose her children and be all alone.
Yes oh. My god! It's the book that keeps on giving
Am I miss remembering or did Rose say that Dickie dies in the woods!? Maybe I dreamed that …. But going into the ending was waiting for victor to shoot Dickie.
I can't remember this, I just remember the links with playing red squirrel, gray squirrel, that a man in the next village over kills his family and the comments that in the end they just kill the squirrel in the dark and don't care about the colours.
If I remember correctly, Rose said something about the poor squirrel dying in the woods, not Dickie.
…and Cass’s father predicted on her wedding day that she loss everything, including her children (child). In truth, I found the ending somewhat traumatizing. If the children are killed, everything would fall apart. No hope for Imelda and Dickey, who was already losing his sanity.
I still think of it as a kind of choice (rather than a pure mistaken identity). Towards the end, Dickie and Victor talk about the likelihood of Dickie's children never seeing the recordings. Victor says: "If you wanted to guarantee they didn't see anything - it'd be the kids you'd need to shoot, not your man." Dickie is horrified, of course, and throws up but still, it seems to me that by the end he has resolved to do the unthinkable. "You can only think about your family. Do your best to protect them from the worst of it. And when the world breaks through - make sure that they don't suffer." To me, the book is a story about the consequences of living an inauthentic life, of basing your life on a lie. In my mind, Dickie is willing to sacrifice everything to keep up this lie.
I think this novel would merit a second reading, with the ending in mind.