The Whispers (add-on) : Discussion Thread

[Trisha]

From the author of THE PUSH, a pageturner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens--and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices

The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.

The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions.

[Trisha]

15 chapters

(view spoiler)[ wow! the twisted ways these girls are connected and their lives
I feel so so awful for Xavier. I'm worried he's done this to himself, that he's jumped and hurt himself

I can't imagine Whitney is really sleeping with Aiden?!

and wow, Blair seems to really NOT like her own husband.

I wonder how the neighbor, Mara, fits in to all of this. . . (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

30 chapters

(view spoiler)[ we don't have much more info, just a few more details of the neighbors

interesting that the neighborhood was so involved in Xavier's life
Blair playing chess with him
Rebecca's husband playing chess with him

I'm so sad that he was so sad, that Whitney was so frustrated with motherhood.

But was Whitney and Aiden together? did Xavier see them? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

45 chapters

I am so sucked in to this one!
(view spoiler)[ my heart is breaking for Whitney at the same time I want to judge her - but it's not fair. we, as parents, we always fail. it's just so stinking easy to do Ugh!
but I'm wondering now if it was Rebecca's husband and not Blair's. Or that it could have been Blair's but it wasn't. . .yet.

My heart breaks for Rebecca. She needs to seek counseling or something - that high and low of miscarriages can't be good for body or mind

and little Chloe. I want to just hug her, it breaks my heart. she's left with that awful guilt of what she said to Xavier in their last moments

I'm not sure if this author is going to give us Xavier back or if everyone will have to live with their own piece in this

and Mara, she's watched them all for years. I wonder if she will not forgive herself not that her husband is gone and if she will join in the neighborhood

these airplanes, I wonder why Xavier is flying them. Do they have some secret together too? Are we going to learn he was really just sending another plane over and slipped? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

and done
sorry, actually finished yesterday but wasn't able to update until today

(view spoiler)[ wow, this one was so good! I loved the way the neighborhood was all tied together - in their secrets and their worries and fears

it breaks my heart so many of them had horrible secrets in their marriage AND from each other. They could have been such good friends for each other and instead they had envy and a wish always for what the neighbor had

I'm glad Xavier woke up and planned to tell everyone everything. Whitney deserved to face what she'd done and who she was.

And Blair had always been right - her husband was cheating, just with other people. . . (hide spoiler)]