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Group Read - After the Crash Chap 46-62 (end) spoilers welcome
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Ann
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Jan 23, 2016 12:14AM
This is the last section of chapters 46-62. Spoilers are welcome. If the first to post could briefly summarize to drive the discussion it would be appreciated!
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The journal details are starting to unravelChapter 46 - Marc reads the journal on the train, the blue envelope contents; soil samples taken from the grave site with human bone fragments. Why was Grand-Duc given such latitude and complete oversight of such evidence? Mathilde's blue envelop reveals that Emilie is not kin to the de Carvilles (99%) devastating Marvina and Marc
Chapter 47 Marc considers the DNA results, abandoning Malvina on the train and going to Nicole. How could Lylie be his sister?
Chapter 48 two "identical" blue DNA envelopes, one for each Grandmother. Neither aware of the other. Nicole is aware that Credule is a liar and doesn't tell all.
Chapter 49 explanations, Marvina is on the move
Chapter 50 The results are negative - in both envelopes, Lylie is not kin to either family. This is news to Nicole. Marc is shocked and learns from Nicole where Lylie is and what she is doing. He gets a text from Lylie telling of her appointment time.
What is Credule up to? Nicole thinks this was a plan to calm the families, but Marc thinks he was also shocked.
Chapter 51 Marc borrows Nicole's van to go to My Terri and find the truth to stop Lylie
Chapter 52 Mathilde de Carville reads the contents of the padded envelope and learns the truth from the front page of the newspaper sent by Credule. She realizes that all of the deaths at the hands of Leonce and her acts will come out. She reveals that she herself killed Leoonce and will take her own life, all done for nothing she does it in Lyse-Rose bedroom amid all of her gifts. Linda will tell the police.
Chapter 53 Marc and Malvina are working together, sort of. He brings her into the loop with the date discrepancies he found when he checked his notes in his room. Credule lied about his whereabouts, historical events conflict with the journal.
They are still almost farcical in their interactions.
Chapter 54 they arrive in Turkey on the way to Mt Terri, Marc thinks Credule was manipulating them all - and he was, he is alive.
Chapter 55 Credule is stalking postmen to find the woman he saw on the front of the newspaper, Melanie
Chapter 56 Marc and Malvina get to the crash site
Chapter 57 Grand-Duc is seeking final clues as he now knows where Melanie lives. He did not want to kill his best friend Nazim but Nazim threatened him, he wanted to stop the charade of the investigation. the idea of switching identities would allow Credule to stay alive and unknown. No choice to kill Ayla.
Chapter 58 Marc goes to the newspaper to find his own copy of the newspaper, the woman there is described as almost a caricature, "Super Bitch" the French and Turkish men we encounter are rude. Marc sees the clue on the front page
Chapter 59 Malvina is angry Marc left her. Her aunt calls and tells her of Leonce and Mathilde's deaths. She has the gun again
Chapter 60 Marc attacks Grand-Duc at Melanie's house while he is on stakeout. Grand-Duc turns the tables on Marc, sorry to have to kill him
Chapter 61 Malvina kills Grand-Duc with the gun she stole back from Marc. they read the last four pages of the journal that Grand-Duc had in his car.
Melanie arrives home and tells her story, there were two George's? and we learn of Lylie's real birth mother and father, the grave and what Melanie did and why.
Chapter 62 an abrupt shift in time, Tom is in the nursery four days old. Mother Lylie and Marc are there as a large parcel arrives - the bear Banjo from Lyse-Rose's room, a gift from Malvina, snarky as ever, but understood by Marc.
A lot is revealed in the last few chapters. The audio led the ending to sneak up on me, I didn't realize how close I was to the end.
Nice ending, I really enjoyed the book and that marc got his happy ending. At the end malvina was a brilliantly written character and the great twist that she wasn't a killer but just a sad lonely girl who hadn't got the help she needed. I loved that she was the heroine and the present at the end was a gorgeous way to finish. The way marc refers to her as a dear friend was a nice touch. Being free from her sick grandparents can only be a goodthing and I was glad of the demise of mathilde and leonce.I found it interesting the way we were led to rely on the journal for our view on grand duc but he was just using it to manipulate what lylie and marc thought of him.
I also thought it was odd that he was willing to kill himself and then starts killing people he calls friends and justified it to himself.
Did others think at the beginning there was no way there would have been any survivors especially that perfectly placed to not freeze in the snow? I did but still took the bait that there was a miracle. It was a nagging feeling that it was neither of them all the way then the dna results confirmed it. Then it was how it came about and what was in the paper that made grand duc know the truth that was the mystery with the time until the abortion creating good suspense. I initially thought maybe it had to do with the hospital and a mix up but the way it ended was better and I like the idea that Melanie gets a second chance to be involved with her family.
Thanks for putting it up as a group read and look forward to others thoughts.
I actually thought the ending was better than expected. I thought Grand Duc's use of the journal for manipulation made sense and was fairly happy with the ending. I still was a bit put out with both Marc and Malvina but they were a bit redeemed.Did others think at the beginning there was no way there would have been any survivors especially that perfectly placed to not freeze in the snow? I did but still took the bait that there was a miracle. It was a nagging feeling that it was neither of them all the way then the dna results confirmed it.
Like you at the beginning I bought into the miracle but around the 2/3 point I did begin to wonder. I thought all the hints that Lylie was really Lyse-Rose were a bit overdone and thought that could not be how it ended but I knew there was no way that it would turn out that Marc and Lylie were siblings so it just felt that there had to be some other option.
Russ and Sandi: The ending solidified my feelings on the book as well. I loved the Lylie "meet Banjo" introduction from Marc which redeemed him somewhat in my opinion of him (which was a roller coaster but essentially low as he was such a boot to Malvina) but he understood her. That was one of the neat things about the book, how we followed the two grandmothers and the two "siblings" as they dealt with life after the crash. Both Nicole and Mathilde could see the other's side. And then finally so could Marc. The journal as unreliable narrator snuck up on me initially as well. I forgot about my initial confusion of Grand-Duc's burning 18 years of his work and then writing it all in a journal. Why the need to rewrite it unless you were editing?
I have the following thoughts on marc and feel he isn't all that disturbed and flawed as a character. The carnal attraction to lylie that Russ mentioned in the earlier section was encouraged a bit by lylie. She lured him to the secluded beach and acting on their impulses was mutual and I feel based on their firm belief that they weren't blood brother and sister. Although we do rely on marcs memory of the event for this insight to their relationship.Leaving the dead body at grand ducs apartment did seem wrong but he felt he was on a strict timeline and was worried he would be main suspect and held up by police.
I see the incident on the train differently to Sandi and Ann. I see marc responding for fear of his life as he felt malvina was a killer and had been aggressive with the gun in the station before the train scene. From his perspective I feel he felt he had to reciprocate that violent sexual harrassment to scare her enough to make her keep away from him and protect the diary. I think it was hard for him to trust malvina in the end but the road trip helped him understand her more but still she did want his grandparents to die so he wasn't convinced she was on his side. this changed at the end with malvina saving his life and the proof lylie wasn't her sister and her grandparents dying making him sympathetic and they had clearly grown as friends by the time the baby was born.
Jack I have been thinking about your comments and see your points from the POV of Marc. I also have been looking at this tale from the POV of Malvina and think there are similar insights into her actions. None of the three children were to blame in the creation of their situation, and each was forced to deal with the difficult and painful identity / custody situation from a different perspective - you reminded me that Marc was no less a victim than Lylie or Malvina. I can't condone either's aggressive attacks on the other, but there is a reason behind both.
This book raises so many clear examples of what misunderstandings and feuds can manifest on the guilty and the innocent.
The ending was very tidy. Everything tied up in a neat little bow. That in itself was surprising since most of the book seemed to suggest that there are no easy answers in life.As to the solution, I was on the right track that the baby had been planted beside the plane. But the reappearance of Grand-Duc toward the end was a nice twist that I didn't see coming. I wasn't sure who was killing people--I suspected Nazim.
I agree Russ about the POV and that its not condonable but helped build the suspense as we were led to believe malvina was a murderer. from my view I was wanting marc to get to the bottom of things without malvina delaying it or killing him. Your comment about misunderstandings and feuds is spot on and the book does highlight this well. Its also another book that uses an unreliable persons view to provide the misdirections and I too was nicely surprised by grand duc being the murderer.
Grand-Duc's misdirections were rather cleverly disguised while actually hiding in plain sight when considered in retrospect. I liked that even while kicking myself later for not paying more attention to his motives. :)
