The end?

[Sharon]

I didn't read it that way at all. Especially since water imagery is mostly associated ("The Awakening" and Virginia Woolf aside) with rebirth and renewal. Also, baptism. I read it more as Andrew and Orion cleansing themselves (in part) of the past-- doesn't Orion speculate that Andrew is eventually going to confess-- and readying themselves for what is to come. Personally, I took the most issue with this concluding section of the book because it essentially gave the male patriarchal figure the "last word" as it were, letting the reader know what happened to everyone else-- a glaring weakness considering the book had worked so diligently to establish a particular point of view for every character. That the book concluded with the father and son swimming forth into the future did a considerable disservice to the female characters in the book.

[Mare]

I disagree. I really think that it was Orion's story from the beginning. Yes, there was the whole alternating narrator thing, but, essentially, it was his story. And there are some who would say (not me, necessarily) that a man's story is, indeed, the story of his family. In this sense, it really was Orion's story--from his conception, his search for his father, the grandfather's restaurant, creating his own family with Annie, and his efforts to hold them all together somehow, doomed for failure as it may have been.

For me, it was a little odd. I really didn't like any of the characters, but I did like the book overall. I do, however, think that there was just a little too much convenience in many parts.

[Sharon]

One could read it as Orion's story from the beginning, but (for me, at least) to do so would be to invalidate the point of view of all the other characters, particularly Annie's. Her struggle with her art and finding her own path is just as valid and as important narratively as Orion's. That, again, is why the whole concluding section didn't work for me. And yes, I do agree with the "too convenient" thing in some parts, particularly when it came to Orion's assault.

[Kate]

This may sound silly, but the name Orion really tripped me up. Orion for the constellation? What was that about?
Annie & Viveca's relationship was weird and I kept waiting for Annie to back out. I didn't like either of them for different reasons.
Orion did come out as the primary character as I read along. I often had to go back and put together the relationships again & try to remember how people had crossed paths with Joe. It was kind of hard work to read this book.

[Ohmystarz3]

Did anyone come away after reading the ending with the conclusion that Andrew took his dad into the water to commit suicide and end both of their suffering? Because the 1st time Andrew went into the water he was meticulous about first taking off his clothes so as not to ruin them and toweling off so carefully afterwards. Then Andrew discusses with Orion that he is thinking about turning himself in... He tells his dad that he loves him, and Orion said he loves him back and then, Andrew exclaims how hot it was and quite suddenly scoops his father up into his arms ...Orion has a tear in his eye and they both go into the "Churning, mysterious
sea".