The Paper Palace question

Yesterday when I finished this book, I was flabbergasted. I thought-- "This can't be right." Then I started reading reviews and comments that others had about the ending. While I was a bit confused, I was mostly astonished that Elle made the decision she made. Given all of her personal history with the terrible consequences of marriage break ups, I couldn't believe that she could do this to a man she loved, to her three children especially after assuring them twice that she and Peter loved each other, and even to her mother and Gina. She flip flopped her mind all through that last 24 hours about what to do, but ultimately decided to do what she wanted regardless of the impact it had on her family. She made a completely selfish decision after all this, and that completely baffled me. I had assumed she had more moral character than this, but sadly I was led down the path of the unreliable first person narrator yet again. Boy, you learn to like them and care for their pain and the complexities of their life, and then they do the most selfish, idiotic thing they could do destroying the lives of those who care for them and whose fate they hold in their hands. Sadly, I guess that is reality, but don't let that beautiful sunrise at the end of the book make you think this is a beautiful moment. This is a selfish, immature choice that Elle makes just like the bad choices and lies she grows more accustomed to living with as the pages turn. But this one will have a terrible result on some innocents, and it is a terrible choice Elle will have to carry the rest of her life. She chose this path eyes wide open.