Hello fellow readers!
Here are my questions to help you read Part 4. I included some questions found at Litlovers:
Please if you don’t mind, put your answers as comments on this post. You can of course also put them all together as a post on your own blog, but it’s easier for the conversation if we can centralize all our answers, so that we can comment on each other’s answers. Thanks!
COMMENTS WILL BE DISABLED UNTIL November 26
Part 4: pp.451-593 [from ‘Hannah’s Story’ to the end]
Please share your favorite lines
The beginning of the end:
1. Duty is very important to the youthful Grace. Did Grace’s sense of duty contribute to the novel’s conclusion? If so, how? Would things have turned out better for the characters if Grace had made different decisions?
Riverton Revisited:
2. Why again the mention of guilt on Grace’s part? Do you think she could be over reacting?
Questions on the whole novel:
3. Do you think of The House at Riverton as a tragic novel?
4. How important to the novel’s outcome is Grace’s longing for a sister? When Grace finds out about her true parentage, why does she choose not to tell Hannah? Is it the right decision? Would things have ended differently had she done otherwise?
5. The First World War was a catalyst for enormous social and cultural change. Not a character in The House at Riverton is left untouched by this. Whose life is most altered? Why?
6. Is there a heroine in The House at Riverton? If so, who is it and why?
Feel free to add your own questions
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I do think of the book as a tragic novel. There is some redemption for characters, but so many lives were ruined that fateful night. Here’s my final thoughts…
http://avidreader25.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-house-at-riverton.html
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Thanks for participating and for the sharing. It was also not fun to have to slow down the reading.
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Better late than never, right? Here are my part four answers, which I’ll fill in below as well: http://toofond.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/the-house-at-riverton-readalong-part-4/
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Absolutely! Thanks for participating. I’m now looking forward to reading The Distant Hours, the only novel by Morton I have not read yet.
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1) I think things could have turned out differently if there had been more direct communications between many characters, and especially between Grace and her newly discovered sisters.
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Absolutely. Duty defines the first part of Grace’s life, while she is in service, and her decision to remain with Hannah until the end shows the extent of her dedication. If she hadn’t wanted to please Hannah, to feel close to her, she would have admitted much earlier that she couldn’t read shorthand. If she hadn’t feared not knowing Hannah’s plans, she wouldn’t have read the note that was meant for Emmeline and misunderstood its intention.
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3) I find it very tragic indeed, and not only because of the war.There’s really no positive outcome, secrets are kept too long or never shared, lives are not lived to the full.
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Yes–I don’t think the ending can be interpreted any other way, even if there is hope for the younger generation. Grace’s generation is one that is marked by tragedy because of the war and all the evil that it spawned, and although she has some happiness in her life, it has always been overshadowed by tragedy.
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