2022.03.28 Meeting Notes

Thank you to Nicole for sending over the Karin Slaughter character list for the April book. Hopefully everyone has been able to get a copy and you are well on your way to finishing the book. 
And dare I hope that everyone likes the book better than they liked the March book? I know it’s been a few weeks, but I do remember that the discussion was a love/hate affair. Although when I look at the scores, it doesn’t totally reflect that. Obviously a 7 or above is a good score, but I think that a 6 is decent and a 5 says just ok. We only had one score below a 5, so I guess it wasn’t the worst thing we’ve ever read???? Or was it? 
Alas, poor Alex Michaelides really screwed himself when he wrote The Silent Patient. It was clearly a hard book to top and that was one of the complaints we heard at the meeting. If we’d never read The Silent Patient, who knows what we would have thought. I wonder if he is doomed to have mediocre follow ups until everyone forgets his first book. 
The Maidens got the following scores: three 9s, four 8s, seven 7s, six 6s, two 5s, and one 3. The average score was a 6.8. 
As a reference, here’s what we gave The Silent Patient: eight 9s, two 8.5s, and seven 8s. The average score was 8.5. 
Quite a difference. 
For those who liked the book: we liked the Greek tragedy angle; we liked how the final letter cleared a bunch of things up; liked the dark, gothic, atmospheric storyline; we felt that the author really put us into the scenes in the book; loved the many red herrings; it was a fast read; liked the oddball characters; it was riveting; some couldn’t put it down; and many were kept guessing until the end (see previous reference to all of the red herrings). 
For those who weren’t as enamored: it was unsatisfying; there wasn’t enough wrap up in the end; some didn’t like any of the characters – they were annoying; we were not impressed; it was whiney and winey; there were too many loose ends (see above re: not enough wrap up); Amy thought it was a pretentious, Greek, Harry Potter; and Sharon K’s best compliment was: “He wrote it. I read it”
Whether we liked it or hated it, many agreed that Henry was creepy (for Tara that was a good thing) but that Fred was a lovable creep. 
One of the things I really enjoyed that came out of the meeting was the discussion about Sebastian’s relationship with Zoe. Some of us read the book and took Zoe’s version of events for the truth. We believed that Sebastian was in love with her and planned to leave/kill his wife to be with her. But as we discussed the book, some members mentioned that they thought that Zoe was delusional and that was only her side of the relationship. A few people even thought that Zoe had killed him (maybe because we wouldn’t leave his wife). We’re not sure if the author intended this to be something that the reader had to decipher or not, but it made for a great discussion. 
Thank you to Kim, for the wonderful cookies. I have Allie down to bring a snack in April, Jay for May, and Amy for June. 
We will meet in person on April 25 at 6:00 pm (NOTE TIME) to discuss Karin Slaughter’s False Witness.
Happy Reading,
Kerry
=== Character List ===
Edward Fosca - professor
Mariana Andros - group therapist
Sebastian - Mariana’s husband
Elisa - Mariana’s sister
Zoe - Mariana’s niece
Henry Booth - a member of Mariana’s therapy group
Liz - a member of Mariana’s therapy group
Tara Hampton - Zoe’s friend at college
Frederick - student at college
Dr. Beck - fertility doctor
Julian Ashcroft - studied with Mariana and police profiler
Sadhu Sangha - Chief Inspector
Conrad Ellis - Tara’s boyfriend
Mr. Morris - head porter
Clarissa Miller - professor
Timothy Miller - Clarissa’s husband and professor
Bedder - ladies who clean rooms for college student
Elise - Tara’s bedder
Kuba - pathologist
Niko Kouris - director of the play
Gregory - waiter
Ruth - Mariana’s therapist
Theo Faber - psychotherapist
Alicia Berenson - Theo’s patient
==== The Maidens ====
Tara Hampton - parents are Lady / Lord Hampton
Carla Clarke - father is an actor
Natasha - father is an oligarch
Diya - Indian Princess
Veronica Drake - father is a senator
Serena Lewis - family from Singapore
Lillian -