Ending

[Jane]

I just got done with the book am confused by the ending. Did she win with the lottery ticket and give the money to Jack's kids in London?

[Bethhaber]

I don't think so. I think that there were only two things that were significant about the lottery ticket. 1) It was one of her first real clues that her husband had been cheating on her, since it had the phone number on it. 2) It was a clue that she didn't know her husband well, since she didn't think that he played the lottery.

It's interesting that she doesn't blame the children. Her interest is in protecting them, the same way that she wants to protect Mattie.

[Linda]

Is this book worth reading?

[Katie]

Spoilers..obviously ahead. I am confused by the ending also.. I thought that when Kathryn picked up the lottery ticket she began to think about Muire and Jack's other children who would be in a bad situation as well without their father. Though Muire explains that the eldest child does not notice her father's absence as much since he is always gone, neither of the children now have a mother since she is in jail after the scandal. (This is just what I took from the book, I may be wrong) but I felt like when Kathryn picked up the lottery ticket with Muire's phone number on it, she looked out the window, saw her daughter "[lifting:] up the (fish) fillet and [sliding:] it into a plastic bag that Robert held open for her..." (293), and realizes that "In London, there [is:] a silence" (293) contrastingly.

Meaning, while Millie has the loving company of Robert and her mother, Muire and Jack's children are quite possibly left homeless and alone in "silence". Giving the situation all the forgiveness she has, she says "I just want to know if the children are all right (across the sea)" (293). It was a very peaceful ending in my opinion.

Does anyone follow what I'm saying?? hahahaha Like I said, I was confused as well :)

[Samantha]

(Beware Spoilers)
I liked the first half of Shreve's book. I loved it, in fact. Shreve is an expert at accurately portraying the first few days after losing someone. The main character's grief felt so real, and I cared for her...

But then she went to London and met "the other woman" and let her WALK ALL OVER HER. It completely changed the flow of the book. I disliked the ending in that sense. If I were the main character, I would not have let that woman treat me that way without standing up for myself, grief or no grief. So it went from feeling totally real to being hard to believe.

[Tara]

In my opinion, I don't think the lottery ticket itself served its obvious purpose of being, you know, a lottery ticket. It might have been the first thing Jack happened to get his hands on in a hurry to take down the number. He could have gotten hold of the ticket in any number of ways. In any case, it was the number he wrote on it that was significant. It was the number of a woman, whom I'm assuming to be a friend of Muire's.

When Kathryn first spoke to the woman, after hanging up the first time she called, the woman indicated that "Muire was here", but not anymore. What I gathered at the ending was that she called that number because that was her only avenue to find out about Muire's children as Muire was in jail by that time.

Her motivation to do that probably stemmed from her realisation that they shared the same blood as Mattie, and in a less literal sense, shared Jack in common with Kathryn and Mattie. He was a huge part of all their lives. Regardless of what she felt about her second marriage, it was an automatic unexplainable urge for her to know that they were alright. She had intended to make that call for quite some time, and that's why she left the ticket under the clock on the mantelpiece. That's just the kind of mother and person that she was. Robert's appearance after a long time and his presence there was probably the tiny shove she needed to get it done.

I like that this is how the book ends. It deals nicely with Kathryn and Matties's relationship post-Jack, Kathryn and Robert's unresolved issue and Kathryn's mind space with regards to Jack's betrayal. It's a nice closure to tie up the story, without getting too detailed or dramatic.

[Ruci]

She knew of the betrayal. She finally moved on. Thabk God the bloody cheating husband died.
She can fall in love again.

[BRAVEN]

I think it’s a soft acceptance and appreciation for the own tenderness of her heart—a quiet thankfulness that she has goodness in her heart even to care for the well-being for the children of her cheating partner. The number being on the lottery ticket is symbolic of Jacks, unknown to her, desire for risk in both parts of his life; to have risk across sea as well as in his first home. Jack needed more and more to make his job as a pilot feel worth it to him. The clock was a symbol also; representing the weight of time on Jack and it’s relationship with risk.

[Elexis]

I was confused by the ending too (and annoyed that I was confused). And I'd forgotten that the lottery ticket had the phone number on it until I read these comments. But at one point Muire did say that she "had some money... " So maybe the ticket WAS a winner..?