Nothing But Reading Challenges

message 301: by Kaley (new) - rated it 4 stars

Jul 01, 2022 08:32AM

DQs Day 4 - Chapters 30-38

15. In this section, we see Beth really open up in the interview and describe two different Christmas flashbacks. The first, when Beth was 14, Lily was bruised and had been clearly abused by her foster family. We also (at least according to Beth) see the beginnings of Lily as a serial killer. Do you feel any sympathy for Lily? Do you agree with Beth that Beth could have stopped her?
I don’t really know how I feel about Lily. But I don’t think Beth truly could’ve prevented what happened. I am guessing that Beth did stop Lily though and that the last section we’ll find out Beth killed Lily.

16. What did you think of the interview with the lawyer Ransom Wells? Why do you think he and Beth never told the police about Lily, even after the murders?
It sounded like it was to protect Black… I wondered if maybe he was connected to Lily somehow … either her dad (I know they mentioned they THOUGHT someone else was her dad but I don’t think it’s confirmed) if he’s the right age or some other way.

17. Beth gets a wonderful shopping trip with her mom that immediately gets ruined when they return home and Lily is there. Lily is clearly the favorite. Why do you think that is?
I’m guessing it has to do with Marianne’s guilt over not being able to keep her and making up for that. I don’t know if Lily is necessarily the favorite, but she is treated better when Lily and Beth are together because Marianne is around Beth all the time. With Lily she’s trying to overdo it to make up for the other times.

18. Can Shea trust Michael? He seems almost too good to be true.
I think yes and no. Yes as in I don’t think he is like going to hurt her or anything. No because I think he is still hiding things. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that Washington is his dad and they just have different last names.

Also, he seems to know that Shea was once kidnapped and I didn’t think she’d told him?? Unless I forgot?? But his comment about how SHE of all people was telling him it was fine to walk alone. Like he knows. And maybe she told him and I forgot, but if not…

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message 302: by Maddy (new) - rated it 3 stars

Jul 01, 2022 08:40AM

DQs Day 3: Chap 20-29

10. Beth's house has seemed important from the beginning of the story and there have been a lot of descriptions of the "Frankenstein ugly" house. During one of Shea's interviews Beth told her to go upstairs and see her childhood bedroom and then she said, "Not all of the answers you want so desperately are going to come from me. Some of them are going to come from this house." What do you think Shea learned from the house when she perused Beth's room?

I think she learned that as much as Beth pretends to be over it, that it doesn't bother her at all, she is still obsessed with the past, looking and searching for someone who will understands what happened, so she can finally say it all out loud and feel lighter. There really is something to be said about unburdening one's soul by talking it out

11. We now have a better insight into the note that was left at the murder scene that said, in part, Am I bitter or am I sweet? In this section we got a lot of details about how this "bitter/sweet" was played out in the house with Mariana and the two girls. Lily also told Beth that everything was her fault and she could have stopped it. What do you think the note will reveal about the murderer and how do you think Beth could've stopped it or could she have?

I think Beth took something that belong to Lily. Or what Lily thinks belonged to her. And if she had given her what she wanted/asked for, Beth could have stopped her.

12. Julian's treatment of Lily is rather atrocious, especially considering how young she is when she first visits them. Why do you think he hates her so much and who do you suspect Lily's father is? (I have only read through chapter 29 for my questions, so I don't even know if that is revealed. Just curious what others are thinking about the situation.)

his wounded male pride? He can't stand to see the child his wife had before she met him, so he treats her badly. She reminds him of all the disappointment in his life - the ugly house, the bad marriage, the unwanted first child and now another child, from another man no less. He is disappointed with his life and takes it out on Lily, even though it is not her fault he is miserable.

13. Lily told Beth she wanted a lot of things, including the house. Beth told Lily she hated the house to which Lily said, "That's because you don't understand it...It's an abomination that shouldn't exist...It's exactly like me." What do you think she meant by this?

I think it is that the house was built for the woman he thought he was marrying, but turned out she wasn't what he imagined her to be. He built the house for the image he had of his wife, without actually knowing her, so it turned out unsuited, wrong for the person it was meant for. As Beth said - the house is in her father's taste, the decorating in her mother's, and it doesn't fit together, just like their personalities and life expectations didn't fit together at all.

14. Lily appears to have more power in the relationship between her and Beth, but based on Beth's current day ability to manipulate others, do you think Lily really is the more powerful one in their relationship? Why or why not?

I think Beth learned from Lily everything she could. She had to, to survive. Lily would have eaten Beth alive if she hadn't adapted and learned how to manipulate Lily in return.

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message 303: by Vian (new) - added it

Jul 01, 2022 11:31AM

DQs Day 2: Chap 12-19

5. Shea is trying to explain the taps being turned on and the cupboards being opened by themselves through telekinesis. If you had experienced what she did, do you think you would have tried to explain things logically or do you think you would have believed it was ghosts and left it at that?.

- I think that most people would try and logically explain away a ghostly encounter. It is only after you dismiss the logical, that a supernatural cause could present itself as a possibility. On the other hand, it’s pretty hard to explain all the cabinets opening and the water turning on when you are alone in the kitchen.

6. After getting a cat, Shea calls on Michael to ask for advice on how to care for it, through the conversation she thinks about wanting to meet him. Do you think they will end up together or perhaps just remain as friends? Could Michael be interested as well?

- I don’t think that Shea will pursue him as anything other than as a friend. Shea seems content living as a single person. Even though the addition of a cat has brought happiness I think something major would have to happen for more to happen with Michael. Michael seems cool to let Shea set the tone of their relationship. I think he’ll be happy as friends, but there is a spark of interest as well.

7. Mr. Greer’s former secretary tells Shea Mrs. Greer wasn’t competent and that she was "sent away somewhere when she was eighteen". Do you think she was crazy or do you have any other theories?

- I’m not sure how I feel about this information. Mrs Greer hasn’t previously been presented as crazy, just unhappy. Also, if she was put away it wasn’t necessarily because she was “crazy”. Behaving scandalous was also cause for being institutionalized.

8. While listening to the recording of Beth’s interview Shea hears a voice in the background whispering “I am still here” and poor Winston gets spooked. Did you find this scary? Do you think cats/animals have a feel for the supernatural? If it were you, would you come back to the house after hearing that?

- I do think that animals are more sensitive to changes in the environment and that also includes any interactions with the supernatural. The ghost in the recorder was creepy, but I was expecting something to be there after Shea returned to it being turned off. I’d probably return to the house, but I wouldn’t leave Beth’s side or go off alone.

9. Finally, in order to get in the mood for more scary stuff. Have you or someone you know have any scary/ghostly experiences you might like to share?

- I believe in the paranormal but I’ve never had any definitive encounter. I work in theatre and have heard/seen things that might be ghostly encounters, but can also be logiced away. My best-unexplained thing story:

I was doing a show called The Woman in Black which features a ghost doing ghostly things. There were lots of special effects to make the ghost magic occur, including a door rigged to open when triggered from offstage. It was a normal door that shut closed except when I triggered it. The door was tested and worked perfectly in rehearsals all the way up to previews.

Our first preview, when the actor went to open the door he found it was already slightly open ( the door was only open enough to be noticed once one went to open it aka lightly cracked). This was well before the trick was to occur, but could be explained by the door popping. After the show, I tested the door. I jumped up and down around the door hoping to recreate the actors walking and stomping around, but everything was fine. The door would close and stay closed.

The next night, preview #2, the same thing happened, the door was open before the actor went to open it. Again we tested the door. Our technical director came in and did all kinds of stress tests trying to get the door to open on its own and nothing would happen.

Preview #3. Before the house opened I pushed and pulled and made sure that the door was closed. There was no one on stage and that door was closed. Again we get into the play, and the door is open when the actor gets there. There is no explanation. Finally, we get to opening night… the door worked perfectly. The door never randomly opened again once we opened the show.

I mentioned to the stage manager at one point how weird the whole thing was and joked about having a theatre ghost messing with it. She in turn told me about the former co-founder who had died over twenty years ago... who loved to play pranks on the actors and techs during tech/previews but would stop after opening night. She swore that she had seen his ghost in the theatre. She'd been stage managing at that theatre for a while and said that over the years she had seen unexplained things late at night and sometimes during performances from the booth.

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message 304: by Vian (new) - added it

Jul 01, 2022 12:03PM

DQs Day 3: Chap 20-29

10. Beth's house has seemed important from the beginning of the story and there have been a lot of descriptions of the "Frankenstein ugly" house. During one of Shea's interviews Beth told her to go upstairs and see her childhood bedroom and then she said, "Not all of the answers you want so desperately are going to come from me. Some of them are going to come from this house." What do you think Shea learned from the house when she perused Beth's room?

- The house is unchanged, it’s a time capsule preserving the Greers. The house had so many rooms that Marianne never redecorated the child’s room. It stayed as is. But it also shows how trapped Beth is. Beth still is trapped in the past, in her father’s murder, in her arrest. She’s living in this unchanged house.

11. We now have a better insight into the note that was left at the murder scene that said, in part, Am I bitter or am I sweet? In this section we got a lot of details about how this "bitter/sweet" was played out in the house with Mariana and the two girls. Lily also told Beth that everything was her fault and she could have stopped it. What do you think the note will reveal about the murderer and how do you think Beth could've stopped it or could she have?

- I don’t think that Beth could have changed things.

12. Julian's treatment of Lily is rather atrocious, especially considering how young she is when she first visits them. Why do you think he hates her so much and who do you suspect Lily's father is? (I have only read through chapter 29 for my questions, so I don't even know if that is revealed. Just curious what others are thinking about the situation.)

- I don’t have a good guess as to who the father is, but Julian is acting out his wounded pride. He found out that his bride had a child out of wedlock and never told him. This was also during a time when things like that were taboo.

13. Lily told Beth she wanted a lot of things, including the house. Beth told Lily she hated the house to which Lily said, "That's because you don't understand it...It's an abomination that shouldn't exist...It's exactly like me." What do you think she meant by this?

- In some ways, the house represents what should have been. Julian bought and remodeled the house to please his bride, but she was unhappy. The floor-to-ceiling windows never were opened. The style of the house was not cohesive. Lily should have been the loved daughter, but instead she was brought into the house as the outsider.

14. Lily appears to have more power in the relationship between her and Beth, but based on Beth's current day ability to manipulate others, do you think Lily really is the more powerful one in their relationship? Why or why not?

- I think Lily holds more power in the relationship and that Beth is trying to meet her. I also think that Beth is aware of the power imbalance. Beth and Shea discuss power when they talk about her relationship with Michael. Beth seems to always be aware of her standing in relation to others, and that’s a learned response.

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message 305: by Briana (new) - rated it 4 stars

Jul 01, 2022 12:42PM

DQs Day 2: Chap 12-19

5. Shea is trying to explain the taps being turned on and the cupboards being opened by themselves through telekinesis. If you had experienced what she did, do you think you would have tried to explain things logically or do you think you would have believed it was ghosts and left it at that?.
I would have believed it was ghosts and left it at that. It really isn't any more far-fetched than saying a pressure change in the house caused the cabinets open or a lapse of memory for forgetting to turn off the taps.

6. After getting a cat, Shea calls on Michael to ask for advice on how to care for it, through the conversation she thinks about wanting to meet him. Do you think they will end up together or perhaps just remain as friends? Could Michael be interested as well?
I think they could potentially end up together. Assuming he doesn't turn out to be a serial killer because I do find the only by phone bit a little hinky I must admit.

7. Mr. Greer’s former secretary tells Shea Mrs. Greer wasn’t competent and that she was "sent away somewhere when she was eighteen". Do you think she was crazy or do you have any other theories?
I think she was pregnant and they sent her away to have the baby in secret and be adopted. And her so called crazy was her grief manifesting years later.

8. While listening to the recording of Beth’s interview Shea hears a voice in the background whispering “I am still here” and poor Winston gets spooked. Did you find this scary? Do you think cats/animals have a feel for the supernatural? If it were you, would you come back to the house after hearing that?
I didn't find it scary I used to watch Ghost Hunters a lot as a kid and that was a common thing to come up in an episode. I do think animals are more aware of the supernatural though their sense pick up on things we can't a lot. I might out of sheer curiosity, but definitely not alone either.

9. Finally, in order to get in the mood for more scary stuff. Have you or someone you know have any scary/ghostly experiences you might like to share?
I don't have any scary experiences. I firmly believe that my house is haunted, but they're pretty chill spirits. I have heard them call my name before or they have a little fun with us by stacking empty laundry baskets up by the door in our laundry room at night, but they're relaxed and we seem to co-habitate pretty well.

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message 306: by Briana (new) - rated it 4 stars

Jul 01, 2022 03:15PM

DQs Day 3: Chap 20-29

10. Beth's house has seemed important from the beginning of the story and there have been a lot of descriptions of the "Frankenstein ugly" house. During one of Shea's interviews Beth told her to go upstairs and see her childhood bedroom and then she said, "Not all of the answers you want so desperately are going to come from me. Some of them are going to come from this house." What do you think Shea learned from the house when she perused Beth's room?
I think it taught Shea to remember that Beth is human and that she's using Shea just as much for her own means as Shea is using Beth. And maybe to have a healthy touch of annoyance toward the older woman for her mysterious and veiled ways of speaking.

11. We now have a better insight into the note that was left at the murder scene that said, in part, Am I bitter or am I sweet? In this section we got a lot of details about how this "bitter/sweet" was played out in the house with Mariana and the two girls. Lily also told Beth that everything was her fault and she could have stopped it. What do you think the note will reveal about the murderer and how do you think Beth could've stopped it or could she have?
I think the note will reveal that the murderer likes to believe she's the sweet girl, the victim, the one swallowed up by bad people time and time again. Though I'm not sure Beth could've actually stopped anything. Short of never welcoming Lily I don't know if she could have prevented what happened later.

12. Julian's treatment of Lily is rather atrocious, especially considering how young she is when she first visits them. Why do you think he hates her so much and who do you suspect Lily's father is? (I have only read through chapter 29 for my questions, so I don't even know if that is revealed. Just curious what others are thinking about the situation.)
I think he treats Lily so poorly because she is a shameful secret that reflected just as poorly on him as it did Mariana. Or he just didn't have sympathy for women that had children while unwed and took it out on Lily because it was easier to do than arguing more with his wife about it. I'm going to guess that her father though was one of the two men that died in the Lady Killer murders.

13. Lily told Beth she wanted a lot of things, including the house. Beth told Lily she hated the house to which Lily said, "That's because you don't understand it...It's an abomination that shouldn't exist...It's exactly like me." What do you think she meant by this?
I think a certain amount of that hate for the children of unwed mother's has seeped into her, she doesn't believe she should exist but she does so she going to make everyone regret in the process. Just like the house once looked lovely but what's been done to it in the name renovation has turned it into something awful and terrible that no one wants to see or should have to see and the house feels that as much as Lily does about her own existence.

14. Lily appears to have more power in the relationship between her and Beth, but based on Beth's current day ability to manipulate others, do you think Lily really is the more powerful one in their relationship? Why or why not?
I think Beth was a truly amazing student in learning how to manipulate the way she does. But I think even now Lily holds power over Beth no matter how hard she tries to escape it.

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message 307: by Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief (new) - added it

Jul 11, 2022 07:29AM