Comments on: Amy Bloom, author of Away, answers your questions! http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/ Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:59:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Stacie http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-7931 Stacie Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:13:23 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-7931 I just finished the last page and am also confused, but my take on it is that the last paragraph is later on - skip ahead - to when John dies in the woods (they are obviously older now because we just saw them with their adult daughter) and Lillian is looking for him. She has already been dreading this moment that she would lose him to death. ("She has thought before that she couldn't bear it, that despair would drop her where she stood, but she was wrong."p.235). So maybe he has been gone too long and she is out in the woods fearing/knowing the worst - and comes upon where he has fallen, seeing his hand first. Of course this is significant because of her mother's hand in her nightmares. Not sure I'm right, but it's the only way I can figure it that really satisfies me - or even feels like a real ending to her story. I just finished the last page and am also confused, but my take on it is that the last paragraph is later on - skip ahead - to when John dies in the woods (they are obviously older now because we just saw them with their adult daughter) and Lillian is looking for him. She has already been dreading this moment that she would lose him to death. (”She has thought before that she couldn’t bear it, that despair would drop her where she stood, but she was wrong.”p.235). So maybe he has been gone too long and she is out in the woods fearing/knowing the worst - and comes upon where he has fallen, seeing his hand first. Of course this is significant because of her mother’s hand in her nightmares.

Not sure I’m right, but it’s the only way I can figure it that really satisfies me - or even feels like a real ending to her story.

]]> By: D. Kempf http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6661 D. Kempf Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:00:26 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6661 Reason tells me that the last paragraph would be deleted by the author or an editor if it did not add necessary and new information to the story. Unfortunately, I can't understand what the paragraph means! If this last paragraph is describing Lillian's discovery of Bishop's dead body under the leaves, are ALL the "tidy endings" given to the characters throughout the book just stories that Lillian tells herself as she moves into each new leg of her journey? Are these stories her way of putting the past to rest so that she can focus solely on her goal of finding Sophie? Are these tidy endings all connected to Lillian's earlier observation that the story you can tell has very little to do with the ugly truth that clings to your underside like tar? Will they be the stories she eventually wants to tell Sophie? Do these "tidy ending" stories come in a rush to Lillian at the end of the book as her mind creates a bold fiction to protect her precarious mental state in the face of Bishop's dead body (his earlier-described rescue having also been a story Lillian told herself as she attempted to push on toward Siberia)? If her brain eventually absorbs the fact of John's death, does she, too, finally crumble under the crushing burden of her losses (like Yaakov) and give up--perhaps succumbing to the harsh elements of nature since all her provisions have disappeared downstream and she doesn't know she is only five miles from where she started? Help! I feel like I'm drowning in the river with Lillian! Reason tells me that the last paragraph would be deleted by the author or an editor if it did not add necessary and new information to the story. Unfortunately, I can’t understand what the paragraph means! If this last paragraph is describing Lillian’s discovery of Bishop’s dead body under the leaves, are ALL the “tidy endings” given to the characters throughout the book just stories that Lillian tells herself as she moves into each new leg of her journey? Are these stories her way of putting the past to rest so that she can focus solely on her goal of finding Sophie? Are these tidy endings all connected to Lillian’s earlier observation that the story you can tell has very little to do with the ugly truth that clings to your underside like tar? Will they be the stories she eventually wants to tell Sophie? Do these “tidy ending” stories come in a rush to Lillian at the end of the book as her mind creates a bold fiction to protect her precarious mental state in the face of Bishop’s dead body (his earlier-described rescue having also been a story Lillian told herself as she attempted to push on toward Siberia)? If her brain eventually absorbs the fact of John’s death, does she, too, finally crumble under the crushing burden of her losses (like Yaakov) and give up–perhaps succumbing to the harsh elements of nature since all her provisions have disappeared downstream and she doesn’t know she is only five miles from where she started? Help! I feel like I’m drowning in the river with Lillian!

]]> By: Sherri Lerner http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6487 Sherri Lerner Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:22:10 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6487 I am truly glad I am not the only one who did not get the last couple of sentences of this book. I immediately picked up another book and started reading, but kept putting it down and reading that paragraph over and over! I am truly glad I am not the only one who did not get the last couple of sentences of this book. I immediately picked up another book and started reading, but kept putting it down and reading that paragraph over and over!

]]> By: Harriet Miller http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6221 Harriet Miller Sat, 15 Mar 2008 21:31:53 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-6221 Please have the author answer the quetions of Jane West and Carol Summer.Did Lillian halucinate the life with John Bishop as they both died or did it happen? I thought her ending with John Bishop would fit the story. Please have the author answer the quetions of Jane West and Carol Summer.Did Lillian halucinate the life with John Bishop as they both died or did it happen? I thought her ending with John Bishop would fit the story.

]]> By: Carol Summer http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-5796 Carol Summer Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:03:31 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-5796 This too is driving me nuts. I have read that page, the ending, so many times, and I just don't know. Does anyone? Will the author answer this question please. This too is driving me nuts. I have read that page, the ending, so many times, and I just don’t know. Does anyone? Will the author answer this question please.

]]> By: Jane West http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-4226 Jane West Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:30:56 +0000 http://writersrevealed.com/2007/12/04/amy-bloom-author-ofaway-answers-your-questions/#comment-4226 Regarding the ending of Away, did Lily hallucinate reuniting with John or was it a promise of reuniting or did she die and meet him in death? Just wondering? Regarding the ending of Away, did Lily hallucinate reuniting with John or was it a promise of reuniting or did she die and meet him in death? Just wondering?

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