Part 3 | mysite

Part 3

The first chapter in this section of the novel begins with an altercation involving the dessert. The fight demonstrates characteristics that we are already aware of. Unsurprisingly, Serge and Babette get in a huge fight. As Babette can be seen yelling and causing a scene, Serge tries his hardest to keep thing quite because he strongly cares about the opinions of those around him.Many people are staring at them, eventually the fight diffuses. They finally discuss the murders!! Babette and Serge mention how upset their son Rick is, that it keeps him up at night and that it is effecting his academic achievements. (I'm not sure why they are surprised by this)

Paul and Claire are both infuriated about what they are saying about Rick, that it is affecting his school work. Paul also thinks to himself that Michel does not seem to be impacted by these events, and that he has bigger things on his mind. Michel is cold hearted, and does not even care that he murdered someone. Babette refers to the death of the homeless individual as a murder and Claire gets extremely angry about this. Claire begins to defend their actions and explains how it was the fault of the homeless women for being near the atm. I was really shocked to see Claire defending their terrible actions. The two kids did commit murder.. that is a fact, so I'm not sure why she continues to defend their horrible actions, but who knows.. Maybe if I were in a situation similar I would defend someone I love as well.

A quotation I found to be extremely interesting is when Paul describes their dinner as, “Two brothers and their wives - who had gone out to dinner together to talk about their children’s problems.” (233) The dinner they are having appears to be just as Paul described it, however when you look into it from a different standpoint, you will see that it is so much more than that. It is much more complicated than just a family dinner, it's twisted, mysterious and tragic. In events in life, people see things from their own point of view, but when you really look at things from a new perspective, you will see the truth to what is happening. I just found that quote to be really important.

The difference of what people see vs the reality.

It is interesting to see how my opinion of the characters has changed. I remember at the beginning I found Serge to be the most annoying character out of the four of them, however after learning about all of Paul’s thoughts and past actions, I understand that he is way more messed up than Serge is. As well as Claire, she seemed to be so normal and perfect, but after hearing her defend the murders, it is clear that she might not be the greatest person after all.

Serge drops a huge bombshell on his brother and sister in law.. He has decided to drop out of the election!! I thought this was a very selfless action and I was happy that he was doing something that was the opposite of selfish. Serge seemed to only care about the opinions of others, which may still be true, but atleast he sacrificed something he cared about to protect people he loves. His wife on the other hand is not so happy about this, she thinks it is a bad idea and begs Claire and Paul to talk him out of it, though he seems to have his mind already made up.

The four continue to fight about Serge dropping out of the election, and Babette continues to cry. Paul says, “‘Your decision will also destroy the future of my son.’” (237) This demonstrates that Paul and Claire only worry about things that will directly affect themselves. Eventually after a long drawn out conversation, Serge and Babette finally leave the restaurant. During the conversation, Claire asks Babette for the time over and over again, I found it really strange and I knew something had to be up.. And I was right. After the pair leaves, Claire reveals that she told her son to stop Beau from doing anything with the videos, hinting that if he needs to kill Beau to save himself, that he should do it. I was blown away by this, it is so crazy to see how fast my opinions on characters changed throughout this novel! Claire tells her son to basically kill his adopted cousin, I then knew from that point on that Claire was also very mentally ill. She had been planning this the whole night, that was why she asked Babette for the time, and why she faked that phone call, so that Michel had an alibi!! It all fell into place at this point. Claire is very upset about Serge speaking about his withdrawal from the election, and tells Paul he must stop him, “‘You only have to hurt him.’” (272) Again, she demonstrates violent thoughts and behaviour, not long after that, she takes matters into her own hand and badly injures her brother in law, to save herself and her family. I was so caught off guard when she took things into her own hands.

As Paul is at his house, he deletes the voicemail's of Claire's fake phone call. In the future, Paul mentions how Beau is missing. His family has no idea where he is and that flyers and papers have been posted about the disappearance. We however, know that Beau is actually dead. One of the final sentences in this whole novel, blew me away.. “‘You’re laughing! You did that then, too, the first time I told you about the cash machine.’” (292) There we have it, Paul has no remorse, he is completely messed up along with his entire family. Michel is simply a reflection of his father, “‘There was something in your posture. In both of your postures, I should say, something identical.’” (287) This was such an interesting quote to me, because they really do mirror each other. A father and son, both mentally ill, both messed up.

This book was such an interesting concept for me.. How far would you go to protect someone you love. Obviously since the characters are so mentally ill, their reactions to the events were different than the average person, but I still think it's cool to put myself in that situation. The book really grew on me, my opinions on all of the characters dramatically changed, even though I did not like any of them, but it was definitely a unique book that I would definitely recommend. I am actually sad that the story had to come to an end, especially since I still have so many questions!!

"Free Image on Pixabay - Family, Silhouette, Prayer." Free Illustration: Family, Silhouette, Prayer - Free Image on Pixabay - 1266188. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.

Harp, Justin. "La La Land & Moonlight Win Oscars despite Huge Mix-up." Digital Spy. N.p., 27 Feb. 2017. Web. 18 May 2017.

May0osh. "May0osh." "Like a Flower Made of Iron" ♡. N.p., 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 May 2017.