r/bookclub • u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 • Sep 08 '26
Trinidad & Tobago - Hungry Ghosts [Discussion 3/4] Read the World | Trinidad and Tobago | Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein | Ch17 A Tiny Leaf Above Us - Ch24 A Big Stone
Welcome to our third discussion of Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein, for Read the World — Trinidad and Tobago! 🇹🇹 Today we will be discussing chapter 17 to 24, and next week, u/fixtheblue will host the conclusion to our journey!
Here's the Schedule.
Also check and always feel free to add to the Marginalia, where u/nicehotcupoftea has posted an interview with the author!
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Some links and information for your perusal
Preta, also known as hungry ghosts, as they're portrayed in Hinduism and Buddhism:
Pretas are believed to have been false, corrupted, compulsive, deceitful, jealous or greedy people in a previous life. As a result of their karma, they are afflicted with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as cadavers or faeces, though in more recent stories, it can be anything, however bizarre.
And hungry ghosts according to Traditional Chinese beliefs:
The hungry ghosts, along with animals and hell beings, consists of the three realms of existence no one desires. In these realms it is extremely difficult to be reborn in a better realm (i.e. the realm of humans, asura or deva) because it is nearly impossible to perform deeds that cultivate good karma.
With the rise in popularity of Buddhism, the idea that souls would live in space until reincarnation became popular. In the Taoist tradition, hungry ghosts can arise from people whose deaths have been violent or unhappy. Buddhism and Taoism share the idea that hungry ghosts can emerge from neglect or desertion of ancestors. According to the Huayen Sutra, evil deeds will cause a soul to be reborn in one of six different realms. The highest degree of evil deed will cause a soul to be reborn as a denizen of hell, a lower degree of evil will cause a soul to be reborn as an animal, and the lowest degree will cause a soul to be reborn as a hungry ghost. According to the tradition, evil deeds that lead to becoming a hungry ghost are killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. Desire, greed, anger and ignorance are all factors in causing a soul to be reborn as a hungry ghost because they are motives for people to perform evil deeds. The biggest factor is greed as hungry ghosts are ever discontent and anguished because they are unable to satisfy their feelings of greed.
Some traditions imagine hungry ghosts living inside the bowels of earth, or they live in the midst of humans but go unnoticed by those around them, or they choose to distance themselves.
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The song in which Marlee sees her current self and the little girl from her past, We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn, was very popular during WW2, resonating with British soldiers and their families left at home—and inspired the musical by the same name, in the linked video.
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Easy Soap Carving: a turtle.
Soap carving of an imaginary creature: Expert level, Bulbasaur edition. 🌱
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The Ramlila event Lata is going to attend.
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Summary
On the night of the deadline, the third dog is killed after Marlee once again refuses to bring the money; thinking it may free her of Dalton for good. She and Hans pursue the culprit into the darkness, and though Marlee manages to graze their leg, they slip away. After burying the dog, Marlee and Hans spend their first night together.
The morning after, Marlee tests Robinson's handwriting, before heading to the village. She hears from him that Baig has taken a tumble and is indisposed.
Krishna takes his anger out on his mother, after Hans does not come home in the early morning. She heads to the estate to ask Hans to eat with her and then head back, but he pays her little mind; after something lodges into her foot, Robinson gives her advice and takes her back to the barracks in his vehicle.
While walking around, pondering about his own behavior, Krishna witnesses Lata and Dylan kissing.
In the village, Marlee identifies Baig as the man behind the ransom notes, matching a misspelling in a grocery list, and fires him; she then uses the letters to fabricate a story about having paid the ransom, but to no avail, when she reports Dalton's disappearance as a kidnapping.
~*~
In the next chapter, we learn about Rudra and Rustam's background. They were raised by their incredibly abusive father, who trafficked a woman to be their mother, raped and abused her; and tortured her when she tried to leave, right in front of them. We learn that he also targeted and stole Dalton's cargo, earning his ire. After a failed attempted assassination, he decided to go on the run and restart his life; he killed his wife, and then attempted to kill the twins, who fought back and shot him. He was caught by the police for the murder of his wife; later on, at the station, they shot him when he tried to break out.
The twins, still children, tried making it on their own; first as beggars, then finding work as yard boys with an abusive, greedy master. When he turned up dead, the police, aware of their father's identity, accused them of murder; but they denied it. Eventually, they were driven away from society, and decided to live on their own, away from people and their judgment.
~*~
Dalton's pickup is finally found, submerged in a pond with no body. During a conversation with the twins, we hear that Hans has been lying during the past few days about going to Bell, and instead has been visiting Changoor's mansion.
Shweta's foot worsens, but Hans keeps insisting it's going to get better without going to the clinic. Krishna and Shweta, alone at home, make up. Later, Krishna follows his father to the estate and sees Marlee dancing while Hans drinks.
Back at the barracks, the situation gets tense. Hans tells Shweta the lot has been sold. Krishna, angry at him, reveals that Hans has been lying about going to the village; Hans claims that it's because he has been asked to keep working at Changoor house, to make more money. Shweta forbids him from returning, and a violent argument erupts; they come to blows. Krishna also lunges at his father. Shweta hurls the ceramic teacup at Hans's head, and seeing the broken shards on the ground turns the grown man timid, making him recall the little boy who used to be beaten by his own father.
‘We aint even married, me and you,’ Hans mumbled as if disoriented.
Shweta screams at him to leave, and not come back. Hans walks away.
~*~
Krishna does mushrooms with his cousin and the twins. When he comes back, he sees his mother writhing on the floor, but thinks it another hallucination. In the morning, Dolly wakes him up and tells him that she was taken away.
Robinson wonders about how Shweta is doing after being taken to the hospital. He wants to ask Hans, but he's spending the day having sex with Marlee; so Robinson, not wanting to wait, leaves to visit her. There, he also encounters and speaks to Krishna. After reflecting on the situation, he decides to quit his job, and tells Hans that what he's doing is wrong; to go see his wife.
Back to another small glimpse of the past; we hear about Hans' mother taking her sons to the river, thinking of running away, and how she eventually killed herself to escape her abusive husband.
Now, in the present, Lata and her mother wash their clothes by the river and talk about Dolly's own abusive husband, Hans and the boy Lata is going to meet at the big festival.
Krishna and Tarak converse with the twins about the situation, and how Krishna will now have to take care of his mother; they warn the barrack boys to stay away from Changoor house. Krishna and Tarak still end up heading there. Krishna, blaming and wanting to scare Marlee, leaves an animal skull on the porch and throws a rock at the house. Ominously, she shows at the door with a gun.
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Final Quote:
He built a fortress to contain them all, filled it with pretty shades and textures. Marlee among them, as well as the heir he never had. Even with all of this, it was never enough. He didn’t have everything he wanted, nor did he want everything he actually had. Always eating yet always famished.
In the end, perhaps what he needed was what every troubled man craves. Rest. Repose. She was giving it to him.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26 edited 20d ago
1) Marlee compares both her past self and Hans to people finding shelter under a tiny leaf, and not seeing the tree. Did you find this analogy accurate, or reductive? What do they have in common, and how do their situations differ?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
imo it's pretty accurate, when you're j grateful to be slightly less soaking, you're too busy gripping onto that small relief to look up at the tree. Marlee and Hans both climbed or are trying to climb out of the same deprivation, but now she's trapped by the class expectations placed upon her and he has duties as head of the household
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
I believe it's fairly accurate. When people's days are spent just trying to survive, they do become shortsighted, and I think, in general, people are pretty good at making the best of it.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
3) How did you react to Krishna's incriminating words towards his mother? Did you feel that there was any truth to some of his accusations? Do you think that what we've seen of Swheta's attitude has been a fair reaction to Hans' behavior?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I felt bad for both of them in this scene. Krishna is so angry at the situation he finds his family in, and unfortunately that anger just exploded on the parent who is still around and not the person he is truly mad at.
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
There is a special kind of pain that is felt when you receive harsh criticism from your child, especially when there is an element of truth in it. Krishna doesn't understand the reasons behind his mother's frustrations.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
It was really painful to read about how Hans' shitty decisions is having a knock on effect on the rest of the family. Both Shweta and Krishna are hurting, but I don't think it was fair of Krishna to take it out on his mother. There's clearly intimacy problems in Shweta and Hans' marriage since Hema died. The solution is not for Hans to go screw around on her though. They needed to communicate long before now!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
4) How did you react to Hans' growing indifference towards Shweta—his lack of concern when something lodged into her foot? Did you think that his recitence to take her to the clinic came from earnest worry due to his past negative experiences, or perhaps a general lackadaisical attitude stemming from his own unfailing good health? Did you feel that he took the situation lightly because he's distracted and fallen in love with Marlee? Or something else?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
my least fav part of the novel ugh everyone else, including Krishna, can see her foot is dangerously infected, but the one person she should trust dismisses it. it's willful neglect imo, he's distracted by Marlee and doesn't want the responsibility of caring for Schweta, and she accepts his indifference because she's already given up and is kinda hoping that if she's compliant enough he'll choose her
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
Yes, it was so heartbreaking. Everyone could see it but she chose to believe him. Just as she saw that something was wrong and he seemed overly involved with Marlee—but she was made to feel that she was worrying too much and should trust him.
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
He is distracted and has lost interest due to the affair.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I think it's a good indicator how detatched he has become from her and her needs. He didn't care enough to ensure her well-being. Her infection was an inconvenience to him not a scary moment that could have killed his wife. Very saddening
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I think Hans is distracted by his affair and infatuation with Marlee, and he sees Shweta's problem as an annoying intrusion into his happiness/freedom. I also think he knows if he actually pays attention, he'll have to stop seeing Marlee and take care of Shweta, because deep down he realizes the infection is bad. So he chooses to ignore it so he can do what he wants, pretending he doesn't know and giving himself a justification not to be home.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
11) Dalton's truck is found, but it's empty. Do you believe Mandeep's theory that he went on the run?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
It's definitely possible! I wonder if we will get an answer to the mystery or not ...
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
Without his truck though? Its all very odd.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
This is curious because why would the truck be in the water if there wasn't foul play?! I hope we find out what happened to him
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
6) Shweta felt that she could always talk to Hans of anything. What is your assessment of their communication?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I was surprised to see this feeling from her, but perhaps when they were younger (before their daughter died) they might have had a better communication style. It's also possible she is romanticizing a relationship she feels she is losing.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
Yeah I assumed this was pre Hema too because it is very clear to everyone that they can't talk openly about a lot since.
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
It has really been shut down completely, it's tragic.
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
v surface-deep haha, they can discuss anything easy, but they can't even speak their dead daughter's name to each other
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
8) The twins' father turns out to be just as, if not even fouler than how the rumours described him. What was your reaction to the story of their father's background, did any particular scene stand out to you?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
absolutely horrifying, the scene where he tied his wife down for so many days and tortured her for trying to leave was so hard to read, and it's almost unbelievable that he later tried to kill his own sons j because he felt the slightest ounce of danger
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
Yes. It was very intense. Just atrocious. That poor woman, not even able to ask for help and speak to her sons... It's fitting that his name isn't written even once, in the entire story of his life. 😐
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Oh, the line where he thinks he owns her life so he is right to end it ... That was horrifying!
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
This was so awful to read. It made me physically sick to think what she must have gone through. Those poor kids too. Some people are irredeemable. Thankfully such evil is rare!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
9) Do you believe the twins killed their overseer, or were they truthful when they denied it? Has what we learnt about them changed your impression of them?
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
They are complex characters and it's possibly both.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
9a) The twins: budding scientists denied the chance to pursue their calling by life’s ugly circumstances, or showing a concerningly underdeveloped sense of empathy (...) towards living beings outside of their social circle because of their upbringing and terrible experiences? Or something in-between?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Both? I think they were edging towards that sociopathic cruelty to animals, but also seemed genuinely interested in learning, showing that maybe they could have had a much different future had their father not warped them so much by how they were raised!
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I do think there was more to it than cruelty for cruelty's sake. There was definitely a curiousity and a need to understand/learn too! I guess growing up the way they did means they were desensitized to violence and had a strange understanding of right amd wrong. I want to believe they are not their father, I guess!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 13 '26
Yes... I also really want to believe the best of them and that they broke the cycle. 🥲
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
At least they have each other, i suppose. The environment they grew up in is actually incomprehensibly awful.
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
I'm pretty sure they did it, they have motive and opportunity, plus their dad is a total psycho, so its in the genes.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
10) In some way, a common thread running along most of the characters' stories is that of a wife attempting to escape or being left behind by her husband. Do you have any thoughts regarding how the author has tackled this heavy subject?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
It's such a heavy subject and so far, I feel he has handled it with skill and respect. The women are portrayed as doing what they can to escape and using what little agency they have. When Hans' father called his mother weak at her cremation, my immediate reaction was "No she wasn't" which to me indicates the author managed to give these women, however oppressed, a bigger presence and dignity that you might expect.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26
Yes, I've been very impressed by how vivid, varied and authentic the female characters' experiences and personalities feel. I agree that he's managed, despite some of the harrowing circumstances, to bestow on all of them a dignity, human complexity and speck of agency. Even those in the direst and most horrifying of situations, such as the twins' mother, who could not even communicate, had their own, brief moment—in which it was just us with her and her own choices. So she wasn't completely defined through the eyes of her abuser.
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
Yes, the repression of women and how few rights and opportunities they have is horrible.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
12) The mystery behind the blackmail letters has been solved! Did you expect Marlee to figure it out so soon? Since Marlee gave them to the police in order to corroborate her story, do you think it's the last we will hear of it?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I was impressed by her detective skills! It's interesting that she didn't outright turn the guy in to the police. I don't think that this will come up again (at least not the letters and ransom) unless Mr. Changoor reappears.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
What I'm wondering is if the police will also match the handwriting to Baig. If anyone's ever received any letters or notes from him... 👀 Though he now knows it's his spelling of "Wensday" that gave him away, so one would hope he would at least correct that going forward.
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
It just showed how people will grab any opportunity to take advantage of a situation! Marlee was a brilliant detective.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I feel like I should have seen it coming tbh. Baig was out for extra money from Marlee the second he know Dalton was gone. It's no surprise that he chose to do this too. Why'd he have to kill the doggos though!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
13) After Shweta decides to stop complaining and simply trusts Hans, thinking that perhaps she needs to in order to be a better wife, she has to be rushed to the hospital with tetanus. Do you feel that this was a deliberate narrative choice by the author, and if so, how?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
i think the timing shows how the person meant to keep you safe can become the one who hurts you and it's symbolic of how much their relationship is broken, his presence no longer means safety
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I agree! Shweta's injury and the outcome feel very symbolic of their relationship.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
14) Hans and his family come to blows. Did you expect the situation to escalate to such an extent?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
No! Prior to this they seemed like a sort of haven from the physical abuse we've seen in other relationships!
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
No, it did come as a bit of a surprise because they were initially set up to be quite a wholesome family.
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
No way did I expect it, he has really fallen for Marlee very quickly. I really didn't expect him to reciprocate.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
Ugh! I hate this (and not just because it was triggering af) but because Hans was supposed to be a good guy. He was so easily swayed by Marlee it was such a disappointing moment!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
15) How has your opinion of Hans evolved over the story, so far? Do you have any predictions for his character?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
10/10 to 0/10. the devoted husband and hardworking father i first liked is now cheating, basically estranged from his son, and not even going to the house sale to get his family a better home where the roof doesn't leak. i've lost all respect for him
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Yeah, I'm with Dolly when she tells Lata she used to envy Shweta but now she sees what Hans is really about. So disappointed!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
It's so awful. We do know that the landowner asked him to pay a higher price because he was Hindu. But after that? Maybe he is lying about someone making a better offer, maybe he isn't. But we know he lied about going to Bell, we know he lied about Marlee. So I simply can't trust anything he says any longer.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I actually never once believed he was telling the truth about the plot. I assume he didn't want to leave Marlee by moving his family away. I have, however, lost all faith in him and respect for him (seriously bud your wife was extremely sick and you were screwing around on her! Gross!!!)
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 13 '26
Yeah, that was so gross. She almost lost her feet because of his "advice" and he spent the day in bed with Marlee. Never visited her at the clinic... mind-boggling. 🫠
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
I feel that (by design) Hans' character is one of the few that has remained a little opaque, so far. My impression is that of a person who had a tough life and works hard, but goes along with whatever is being offered right in front of him. He takes what he's given; perhaps because he's always had to since he was a child. He rarely, if ever, communicated: he expressed wishes for other people (like Krishna) but never for himself. I think he may have difficulty voicing his negative feelings, because to do so, as a child, would have meant being beaten—and as a barrack dweller, he's also always been looked down on and has had to learn how to bend backwards, without complaint. He may have pushed them back and let them lightly simmer beyond conscious thought. It doesn't seem like he and Shweta ever talked about their sex problems, for example, until he hurled it back at her during the fight.
Whatever resentment he may have felt towards Schweta, or shame for having come to blows (one would hope)... not showing up when she ended up at the hospital, spending the day having sex with Marlee at the mansion—shows a lack of commitment and once again an unwillingness to have the difficult conversations. A very strong pattern of conflict avoidance. He's found an easy escape and is currently drunk on it; but no relationship can be maintained in such a state for very long.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
18) Robinson abruptly quits his job because he disagrees with Hans and Marlee's behavior. Were you surprised by how quickly he came to the decision?
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
That's a strong person who stands by their values like that.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
I admired how he stood behind his principles, though I wondered a bit at him not having at least talked to his wife before quitting. But it was pretty impulsive, to be fair. Perhaps as an active member of the village's catholic community, he's also going to have an easier time finding another job...?
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I definitely got the impression it was easier to stand by his morals because he hated his new role too. I still admired his choice and his caring side when he went to check on Shweta in the hospial
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
19) Hans claims to love both women. What do you think?
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u/psycho4icecream Will Read Anything Sep 08 '26
i don't buy it, his indifference to Schweta's physical and mental pain can't be love. he's doing the bare minimum to keep her around for their son's sake, he holds some sort of affection for her at having once been a part of his life but it isn't love
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Nope, and I think it is possible he actually doesn't love either of them. He's infatuated with Marlee, feels responsibility towards Shweta, loves Krishna.
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u/bluebelle236 One More Chapter... One More Spin Sep 10 '26
Rubbish, he doesn't know Marlee, he doesn't love her.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
And he doesn't love Shweta either or he would have been more concerned for her well-being when she was super sick with tetanus
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
21) Is there anything else you wish you talk about?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
The author's description of the natural environment is so beautifully written!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
Absolutely, I've been struck by them so many times. I feel like the plain is as much a protagonist as any of the characters—it's so often and painstakingly, lovingly described.
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
Thanks for mentioning Vera Lynn, and particularly that song. I was actually named after her! My dad was a soldier in WW2 and I grew up listening to Vera Lynn records - mum and dad loved her so much. At mum's funeral, dad had them play We'll Meet Again and there was not a dry eye in the house.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
That's such a touching and beautiful story, to have something like this tying all of you together! Thanks for sharing. 🥲
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
The animal abuse and the abuse of women and children has been rough reading in this one. Read the World often has difficult topics, but the casual way Hosein throws the most heinous acts into the storylines has been jarring to say the least!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 13 '26
Yeah, every time there's a spark of light I start preparing myself for something heinous or terrible to counterbalance it, at this point.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
5) Do you have a system or some special thing you do in order to avoid food waste?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I used to compost food scraps when we had a big vegetable garden. Maybe we will again one day!
We will occasionally have a meal where we just pull out all the leftovers and bits of things in the fridge and everyone makes a plate of whatever looks good to them, so instead of cooking something new we use up the small portions left from prior meals. Or on the weekend for breakfast, I'll pull out all the veggies we haven't used up yet and put them into an egg dish like a frittata or omelet.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
I've always wanted a compost bin but having lived in a city my entire life, it's never been possible! 😩 The best I could do with vegetable scraps is freeze them to make homemade stock.
Those meals with a good variety of leftovers are some of my favourites. It's like having a small buffet. 💙
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 10 '26
When we were on vacation this summer, staying at a few different Airbnb places, we needed to get rid of leftovers the day we were leaving a house to travel to the next spot. So we started doing "breakfast extravaganza" those mornings where we made bizarre brunch plates out of the bits of meals and ingredients from the fridge. Nachos with a fried egg on top, all the cheese/veggies scrambled up with rice, half of a burger... It got strange. But oddly delicious!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 11 '26
Love that! Strangeness is the first step towards crazy culinary invention! 🙂↕️
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
We buy in daily or every other day so that less ends up going bad or getting forgotten. This weekend we made zucchinni bread and had stir-fry courgette to get through the extraordinary amoung of Courgette we grew this year. My husband makes his own pasta sauce and we freeze it down. Any left over skin, meat or rice goes to the doggos.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
7) Rudra is an artist! He whittles small soap figurines! Have you ever tried, or has your interest been piqued?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
I've never tried to whittle or sculpt anything, and I find it so impressive that a person could create a figure out of a solid object/block like that!
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
I've always been fascinated at the way sculptors work with an image in their mind and create something three dimensional. It's so clever!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
16) Have you looked up or are you familiar with any of the many, many dishes that have been mentioned so far and feel tempted to try them? Found any interesting recipe? 👀
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
So much of it sounds delicious! If I wasn't super busy this month I would try to find some recipes. I'm curious to see if anyone else decides to cook something!
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
I've been pretty busy myself but I did find a well-organised cooking blog with a lot of promising recipes (and a glossary)! So many look great, I haven't quite decided on one yet: https://cookingwithria.com/
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
I truly hate cooking and would rather do all the other chores and clean up after. My husband likes this deal and is a decent cook so it works well lol
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 13 '26
Yin and yang. The people who despise cleaning up and enjoy cooking (also me) appreciate you 🙂↕️🙏
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
17) In a twisted way, Marlee's behavior has now led to another child renouncing going to school in order to take care of their guardian. Do you think Marlee may feel some responsibility, if she learns about it?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Probably not. I get the feeling Marlee has decided it's her time to get what she wants.
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u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 Sep 13 '26
Yeah I agree. She doesn't care a bean about Shweta or Krishna. She's very clearly motivated by her own sexual satisfaction right now at the expense of anyone and anything else.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
20) How has your enjoyment and understanding of the novel been evolving as we near the finale? Do you have any final conjectures you want to share?
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u/tomesandtea Viceroy of Verity | 🐉🧠 Sep 09 '26
Is Krishna about to get shot?! Scary cliffhanger!
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u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 Sep 09 '26
This is my fear, it just feels inevitable.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 09 '26
For a moment, I also feared we would lose Schweta. We didn't, but if we lose Krishna, I fear that at this point she may not survive it.
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u/Coffee_fuel 📚Bookclub Boffin📚 Sep 08 '26
2) Giving in to mutual physical attraction, Marlee and Hans sleep together. Do you see any future for them? Or do you agree with the rest of the cast: it's a short-lived dream?