The Other Typist - Whole Book (Spoilers)

[Hugh]

We need at least one spoiler thread - if you think we need to subdivide the book we can create more later. I don't have any starter questions because I haven't read the book and wasn't planning to participate.

[Catherine]

Based on my reading, I expect we'll spend some time talking about what the ending means. It leaves open some possibilities. In interviews the author is a bit cagey about it, too.

[Sarah]

How much trust is placed in the written word was a theme that stayed with me until the end. Details (of a confession in this instance) that are written, or typed, become the truth. "God is in the details" and details are "nearly impossible to fabricate with any plausible success". Dichotomies are explored - Guilt vs Blame, Innocence vs Guilt, Married vs Engaged, Hindsight vs Foresight, for example.

[Beverly]

Sarah wrote: "How much trust is placed in the written word was a theme that stayed with me until the end. Details (of a confession in this instance) that are written, or typed, become the truth. "God is in the d..."

Yes, I really enjoyed this aspect/theme of the book - written word is the truth.
But, also because of the transcriptions from one written format to another there is a chance of changing the wording.

Rose likes being praised for her accuracy in transcribing the confessions into the written reports for the police and prosecutors relied on for making their cases.

Rose notices that Odalie makes quite a few mistakes and does not necessarily suffer any consequences - is this the point that Rose decides that she too can make "changes"?

[Mark]

Yes, what's written is reality. Or not.

BIG SPOILER






However, writing something doesn't create a history with other people. I can accept that there were two typists at the center of the story. It seems like the person that narrates the narrative was Ginevera, using details she learned from the "other typist." But what did others see? How could the hotel not know which woman was paying for the room? What did the others at the precinct see? There was a plain typist that worked there for a year before the charming Odalie appeared. If Rose was Ginevra, how could she create Odalie? The penultimate paragraph shows the narrator as the murderer, but beyond that, how does the twist work?

My head hurts. Anyone ready to explain it?

[Sarah]

What made my brain hurt was that there was an insinuation of mental illness, institutional residence, and doctor giving treatment but the information that the reader has (as outlined by Mark) did not give evidence of a plausible diagnosis that would explain all the personality/behavioral twists.