Marissa and I met for book club over facebook last night:
First we determined that we both are enjoying the overall plot so far. We talked a lot about Cole's character, how we feel about it, and why we think that he is that way. We then answered some of the questions that were in the back of the book. One of them was "Cole thinks his parents hate him. How do you think he feels about himself? Why?" We talked about this concept for a while, and about how Cole's parents actions will impact his future as a person and/or as a parent himself. We said that we feel bad for Cole, because he does not have much control over the life that was handed to him. Marisa brought up that Cole has the right to think his parents hate him, and that he probably hates himself too. I agreed. We discussed how Cole tried swimming to impress his dad, but he still wasnt good enough. I then brought up that if his dad doesnt think he is good enough, how can Cole have and confidence in thinking that he is good enough for himself. I also said, " if his dad doesnt care about his life that much how can he care about his life?" Marisa agreed. We then talked a bit about Spirit Bear and what he represents for Cole.
We then talked a bit about Garvey, and the foreshadowing of the fact that he might have gone through something similar to what Cole is going through. We said how Garvey doesnt actually believe Cole wants change, but he is hopeful that the island will work, we predicted that it probably changed Garvey, which is why he is sticking with and supporting Cole.
We then discussed a couple unrealistic aspects of the novel, and how they bothered us a little, like how they would never actually send him to jail. For example, I said "if he doesnt care this much about his life why wouldnt he not care if he went to jail". Marisa added "...they should outline more of the key lessons of the story, for example, don't lie." I agreed. "I don't like how they glance at certain issues and keep going" Marisa continued. I also added "...they gave him schoolwork to do on the island, but they would know by now to stop giving him homework, and a kid just cant stop going to school for a year" These little things dont particularly matter for the plot or anything, and I dont think it would "bother" the readers from this grade level, but we still discussed it. i
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