Discussion - Week Two - Desperate Characters - Chapter Nine - Thirteen

[Jim]

This discussion covers Chapter Nine – Thirteen, page 118 – 190
Conclusions/Book as a whole

[Voorneveld]

At some point, I jotted in the margin of a page that hardly an affectionate word was said throughout the novel. What about this:

"But life is desperate," said Sophie almost inaudibly.

"Did you say life is desperate?" Otto asked...Then suddenly he began to laugh. "Read to me," he said. "Go on." (p. 151)

Hardly a sensitive response to Sophie. Or even worse:

He loved Sophie...and she was so tangled in his life that the time he had sensed she wanted to go away from him had brought him more suffering than he had conceived it possible for him to feel. (p. 151)

Sure, he's claiming he loves Sophie, but "tangled" is perhaps not the most tender way to put it. Moreover, this occurs in a scene where he forces himself upon her. The chapter ends:

"Sorry," he whispered, then was choked by a wave of laughter.

He'd got her that time. (p. 177)

No high-score on the Mr-Charming scale here...