Michelle
First novel published
Posts: 2,563
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Post by Michelle on Jan 25, 2008 10:24:58 GMT -5
It was probably the fact that Briony was so sure of her testimony. It might be hard to believe a 13-yr-old. But when she is convinced of her story, it might be easy for others to go along with it as a way of wrapping up the whole ordeal.
And I thought that it was pretty easy to figure out who really did it...
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Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Jan 25, 2008 10:40:54 GMT -5
But don't you think they would have figured out that the "attack" in the library was in fact two people making love? That's why I'm thinking they were only pretending to believe Briony for Cee's sake, because it would have caused too much of a scandal to acknowledge that a young woman had willingly had sex out of wedlock. But then again, I haven't finished the novel so... As for who did it, the only one I can think of right now is Paul Marshall, but that's just a gut feeling for the moment.
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Michelle
First novel published
Posts: 2,563
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Post by Michelle on Jan 25, 2008 10:46:04 GMT -5
I read it a little while ago so I don't remember exactly what she says. Does Briony actually say that Robbie attacked Cecelia in the library? I do agree that they might have figured out what really happened. Esp. given the letter. So maybe they were trying to cover that up. I think it would be more important for them to just blame someone for what happened to Lola though. I think her disgrace would be worse.
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Isa
Administrator
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Post by Isa on Jan 25, 2008 10:53:23 GMT -5
Yeah, Briony shows them around the library and tells them what she saw... I love how the book is written like a historical novel, but there's also a good deal of mystery involved
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Lu
Administrator
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Post by Lu on Jan 25, 2008 11:11:14 GMT -5
Isn't it weird how Emily was sort of able to predict what was going to happen when she compares Lola to Hermione and thinks she'll somehow end up "stealing the show"? And there's so much that's left unresolved at the end of Part 1: What happened to the twins? If Robbie didn't do it, who did it? What will happen to Lola? Guess I'm gonna have to read on! It is weird. Emily really understood Lola's character, she's really a lot like her mother. I haven't realized it before...I agree that they pretended to believe Briony for Cecilia's sake, it makes more sense now. It's weird that nobody had any doubts about Paul Marshall, after all he was a stranger to everyone except Leon...I'd have suspected him (especially because I hated him since he first appeared in the story).
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Post by Carma on Jan 25, 2008 12:51:58 GMT -5
I thought it was Paul Marshall immediately..
Cecilia didn't say anything about what happened in the library.. did she? But I guess they could've pretended, to cover up for cecilia.. I never thought of that before..
I finished part 2 of the book and I have to say it is very well written! It was like I was walking around there.
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Jan 25, 2008 14:18:46 GMT -5
Okay, I just wanted to say something about Lola being like Hermione, or so Emily says. Do you think that Lola realized how much attention was on her brothers missing and that was the reason she let herself have sex? Because I'm pretty convinced that Lola didn't get raped, I think she did something with Danny Hardman. I had thought of Paul too, so I'm not sure which it is. Lola seems sneaky enough to do something like that. Anyways, that's my prediction, as crazy as it may be.
:::Edit::: I definitely like the passage from Northanger Abbey before the story. Catherine was so like Briony in the sense that they imagine horrific things and believe them to be true! It's perfect for this story.
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sagedautumn
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
You Might Need This!
Posts: 1,509
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Post by sagedautumn on Jan 25, 2008 15:23:02 GMT -5
Exactly!!! It kind of pissed me off knowing that Emily could have prevented this... Remember she hears something in the playroom. I am pretty sure it said that Emily heard laughter and noises coming from the playroom, specifically a man and child laughing... She knew that it wasn't Leon or Robbie's so she had already deduced it was Marshall's and she knew they were alone together... About Lola being supposedly raped... I highly doubt it because it seemed all to convenient for her to be in the same position she was in the playroom so quickly. She liked the attention, and the movie they showed her as having a sort of sexual naivete (the chocolate). Also, Lola cried only when she saw Briony had found her in a compromising position, there were no shouts or screams from her it was only unitl later that she bursts into tears. When Briony asks her who did it, Lola hesitates, when Briony says it must have been Robbie she quickly grabs hold of the idea and says that it was him but she's not sure because she couldn't see him(very sneaky Lola!) This is where it gets interesting. How can you possibly not know who the person is lying on top of you??? There were only four men: Leon, Robbie, Danny, and Paul Marshall. Obviously, the first one a NORMAL person would suspect would be the man who was hitting on you last time, you know the one that has bruises all over his face! It's obvious she was lying and covering up for her stupidity!
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Kristie
Novel turned into BBC miniseries
"If a book is well written, I always find it too short."
Posts: 7,214
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Post by Kristie on Jan 25, 2008 16:57:03 GMT -5
There is something sneaky about Paul. He seems like he's trying too hard to be the good guy. Didn't Lola have bruises on her arms? Bruises she claimed were from her brothers? So, because Lola had bruises, is it safe to say that her first encounter was unpleasant, whoever it actually was with?
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annak
Collection of short stories published by an independent editor
Posts: 632
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Post by annak on Jan 25, 2008 17:06:50 GMT -5
But you have to admit that Lola didn't flat out agree with Briony about accusing Robbie. She kept saying, "Are you sure you saw him?" Over and over again. I think despite the fact that she put herself in that position, she knew it was wrong to accuse someone who hadn't done anything. We can take it as trying to really imbed the the idea in Briony's head that it was Robbie who had attacked her, but I think Lola didn't plan on accusing Robbie and half way through wasn't sure it was the right thing. It was just that Briony's idea had gone too far and it was too late for her to just say "No I have no idea who did it" or "It was Marshall."
Despite the bruises she had, I think Lola liked the idea of having Paul Marshall give her all this attention. And like everyone's said already, she didn't cry about it till Briony asked her if she was attacked. Lola just didn't have a logic reason for being where she was without giving away what she had been doing with Paul.
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Post by Dominique on Jan 27, 2008 1:50:01 GMT -5
That's why I'm thinking they were only pretending to believe Briony for Cee's sake, because it would have caused too much of a scandal to acknowledge that a young woman had willingly had sex out of wedlock. I hadn't thought about that at all really, though now that you mention it , it really does make so much sense because Briony's showing them the letter as evidence against Robbie makes no sense at all when compared against Cee's reaction to the entire situation. It shouldn't have taken much for them to figure out from Cee's reactions that whatever happened between them was entirely consensual. I agree with everything everyone's said about Lola, but additionally I thought I'd comment that a few things about her remind me of Nabokov's Lolita, the name Lola, the colour of her hair and the sexual acts with an older man. This may be a bit of a stretch but I think it's interesting.
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Post by Hazy on Jan 27, 2008 8:28:44 GMT -5
I immediately thought it was Paul too. I think I remember it being mentioned that he has scratches on his face at the dinner table, just before it comes out that Lola is bruised and scratched. I'm not sure that her not crying or being in distress until Briony was nearby is a good indication that she was not raped though. She may have been very scared or in shock, or thought calling out would endanger her life and didn't feel safe to do so until she knew someone was nearby that would hear her.
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zeldafitzgerald
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
ancora imparo
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Jan 27, 2008 8:54:21 GMT -5
When I read the book, I had a feeling it was Paul. When I watched the movie it was much more obvious. Movie Paul was so creepy! They really played it up in the movie.
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oureternity
Collection of short stories bought by Random House
bam.
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Post by oureternity on Jan 27, 2008 11:48:45 GMT -5
I didn't get it really when I read the book only in the movie it became much clearer. Also because of the chocolate scene.
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Post by bookaddict on Jan 27, 2008 15:19:24 GMT -5
I figured it was Paul in the book, but the movie made it very obvious.
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