A talk with my neighbor totally flipped my view on our book club's 'villain'

We were talking about last month's pick, 'The Silent Patient', and I was going on about how the main guy was just plain evil, you know? My neighbor, who's a retired nurse, just listened for a bit and then said, 'Yeah, but you ever think about how the system failed him way before he failed anyone else? The book shows he tried to get help three separate times.' That hit me different, lol. I'd been so focused on his big, bad actions that I totally missed all those smaller moments where he was just a broken person. It made me realize our whole book club debate got stuck on judging him, not on understanding why. Has anyone else had a book where a side comment from outside the group completely changed your take?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_craig413d ago

Heard a podcast say we judge characters, not systems.

jamieperez13d ago

Had that happen with "Gone Girl." My buddy who works in a prison said Amy's actions made more sense if you saw her as a product of her parents' messed up expectations, not just a psycho. Made me go back and read those early family scenes completely differently.

luna61713d ago

That's a smart take from your buddy, @jamieperez, and it really fits with what the author said about performance and pressure.