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Our book club split over a twist ending, and I still think they missed it
Last month we read a thriller where the narrator turned out to have lied about everything, and I brought up how that changes the whole story. Half the group said it was just a cheap trick, but the other half, including me, said it made the book mean something totally different. We spent 45 minutes going back and forth over one scene on page 214 where the lie gets hinted at. It got me wondering, do you all read for the plot or for the hidden layers? Has anyone else had a debate where the real argument was about how much the author expects you to notice?
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abby_wilson512mo ago
The 45 minutes on page 214 hit close to home. We had a similar split over a book where the main character's whole backstory was a fabrication, and half the group thought the author was just being lazy. I ended up in the corner with the folks who could point to the small cracks, like how the character never once described their childhood home the same way twice. When you see those layers, the book becomes a completely different animal. It's not about plot versus depth, it's about whether you trust the author to hide things on purpose. Sounds like your group got the better debate, even if it ended in a stalemate.
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