Did Amma make her self sick in the scene where Camille cares for her in Chicago?

[Rosella]

Near the end of the book, when Amma begs Cammile to take care of her the way Adora did, did anyone else wonder if Amma deliberately made herself sick by taking something? Amma was obviously craving that perevse form of care, but was she taking advantage of an ordinary bout of the flu or did she intentially cuase it?

[[deleted user]]

I guess that now that you brought that up, I would say you're right. I didn't care for this book in any case and don't want to even remember that I read it. Just being honest. I thought Gone Girl was better.

[Kirby]

I love all 3 of Flynn's books, can't wait for her to write another one! And, yes- I do agree that Amma most likely was making herself sick.

[Petro]

I also think that she made herself sick :)Craved some attention ...

[Teresa]

I agree that Amma deliberately made herself sick but I think it was to cast Camille into the role of Adora so that Amma could manipulate Camille like she was able to manipulate Adora - Amma was really,as she said her self the one who used the weakness of others to gain the advantage by manipulating their weaknesses

[Baylee]

When I was read it I thought that it was maybe the withdrawals, mentally and emotionally. it was saying that she had a lot of extra energy due to not being sick on a regular basis that she really believed that she was sick. I think that she was a talented actress and had no reason to really take anything to make herself sick... right? I guess I think that she tried to be good or normal or whatever and she failed and her getting sick in the night and Camille not filling her mothers shoes was when she gave up trying and first decided that she liked hurting still.

[Rosella]

Baylee wrote: "When I was read it I thought that it was maybe the withdrawals, mentally and emotionally. it was saying that she had a lot of extra energy due to not being sick on a regular basis that she really b..."

Wow, Baylee, that's a really interesting idea. I think you may be on to something when you mention emotional withdrawal. I've seen many children react to teachers and other adults with the same (sometimes negative, sometimes positive) approaches they use with their parents. Frequently these kids don't appear to realize how much their parents have influenced their actions. Amma is a little older than the students I've seen, but she's also coming from a much more intense home life than most students and a significant theme of the novel is how Camille messes up little girls.