Commonwealth: Chapter 8-9

[Winter, Group Reads]

This is the discussion thread for Commonwealth by Ann Patchett Chapter 8-9

[Ilona]

How did you all like the ending?

[Heather]

I'm glad that Franny kept one of her memories of Albie to herself. I'm surprised that Albert was going to go spend the holiday with one of his children. He seem to avoid them while they were growing up.

[Claire]

I liked the ending a lot! After such a depressing beginning, it was very satisfying to see the characters come to terms with their pasts, and have some personal victories, like Franny having the one memory that she didn't share with Leo.

I was also glad that Teresa went to Switzerland to spend time with Holly. I loved the fact that the last meditation session in the book had her connecting with Cal, and letting her see what had happened to him. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to have a child die, and to be so far away would have to make it that much worse.

One personal aside that has nothing to do with reviewing the story, I actually had to put the book down and stop reading for a few minutes when I read about Kumar's first wife's death. Sapna died from an undiagnosed heart condition known as Long QT. It hit me, because I knew a young man who died from this. It really caught me off guard!