Maxine Hawker answers “What do you think of Ray and his...”

Dua asked this question about White Oleander:

What do you think of Ray and his relationship with Astrid?

Maxine Hawker I found this character very difficult to deal with. I can't recall his exact words but he told Astrid he didn't want this to happen. Are we to believe…moreI found this character very difficult to deal with. I can't recall his exact words but he told Astrid he didn't want this to happen. Are we to believe that Astrid started the relationship and kept it going when she was a child? Paedophiles spruik that rhetoric and these relationships do exist. The perpetrator is not all evil, he is a weak man dominated and controlled so much so that he is able to resist sexual advances albeit from a minor. Astrid is desperate for affection and love and affection. Her upbringing was not permeated with Judeo-Christian moral codes so Astrid's attitude to sex was very free and uninhibited. (I am not saying by any means I condoned her having to sit up and wait for her mother to finish having sex with a lover).(less)

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