Reply To: TRWR: What role do secrets play in the novel?
Let me just say I thought the plot with Angie’s diaries and her panic when she realizes they are gone was one of the most suspenseful parts of the book for me. As soon as she told her son to get the boxes for Garnett I thought “oh no!”
I think for Angie and Brody, they needed to share their secrets with each other if they were going to have a truthful relationship, as you all have mentioned. Both were looking for a romantic relationship without secrets where they could be their true selves. I do think Angie would have told Brody her secrets without Garnett’s interference but maybe not so quickly.
There are so many other secrets in the book, many of which serve the overall mystery and plot but others that provide character growth and insights into their motivations. I agree that many of the secrets were self-protection or also to protect others (which was the case with Marta and her children). Scott’s secrets, for me, were a little bit different. He keeps secrets from his mother almost as a means to assert his independence. His secrets tie in to his growing into adulthood (sadly, he is forced into choices that mature him beyond his years, much like the men in the story who went to war and come back changed by the violence they experience). His secrets stood out for me because of how they contrasted with the adult ones in the story.
