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Folks should be well into the novel at this point. Today's question: how would you like to see the novel end and why? This is a question you can answer if you have finished the novel or if you haven't. As you answer that question, identify parts of the novel that make you think this could be a reasonable ending. And if you ending is totally not in the realm of possibility, tell me why it could not possibly be the ending even though you wish it was.
NOTE: if you have finished it, try not to give anything away in your answer about this twisty book.
9 Comments
Paul Sweeney
11/19/2025 02:32:40 pm
I must admit I'm very behind in my reading, so to say where I think the book is going is very difficult. For now I'll speculate that the book is likely going to have some kind of plot twist, given how discussions of it have gone thus far. That seems like a pretty basic assessment but it's a reasonable one, if nothing else.
I.S.
11/19/2025 02:37:02 pm
I would like to see the novel end with the twins cutting off Serene and beginning their paths towards healing themselves and their relationship. However, that’s just me wanting a happy ending that I doubt will happen because we’re already about halfway through the novel and things seem to only be getting worse. Part of me wonders if Clara will have a similar ending to her mother. There are a lot of parallels with their mental health struggles. Additionally, Clara frequently mentions how Serene (the imposter) smells like a riverbed and the earth, which could be foreshadowing. Then, even after the altercation with Serene, Clara blames it on Dempsey by saying, “She almost ruined everything between our mother and me” (187). Her delusions show no sign of getting better. I also left off on the chapter that ended with Clara matching with Kendrick on a dating app (190). Along with the fact that Clara and Dempsey now have each other’s numbers blocked (182), this will further strain their relationship if Dempsey finds out about it. Dempsey sided with Dr. Rayna instead of the friends she made from the Womb-Men group (184-186). Her inability to side with her friends worsens her isolation and stunts her growth. So, I have a difficult time imagining that she’ll improve herself by the time the novel ends. Whenever Dempsey seems to be making progress, it’s like she takes two steps back immediately afterwards.
Alexandra O'Brien
11/19/2025 02:40:41 pm
YES! Team cut off Serene!!!
Anna
11/19/2025 02:41:29 pm
It is so interesting that you point out that both twins seem to be so self-destructive, much like Serene. They all seem to refuse things that may help them move forward, leaving them stuck like Serene felt when she first had the twins.
Anna Dykhoff
11/19/2025 02:38:35 pm
I would honestly love to see the ending make sense of Serene - has she time traveled through the river somehow? Is she Serene at all or just someone who bears intense resemblance to the twins' mother? If she is not Serene at all, maybe Clara hallucinated parts of the room that mirrored the pictures. However I think it is most likely that Serene time traveled to the twin's adult timeline, somehow by the sheer motivation to publish her book. Serene reflects frequently that she feels like she is in the wrong place, that Abey (excuse if the spelling is wrong, I am using the audiobook) is somewhere trapped between worlds. If Abey's in-between existence goes beyond his drug use and into something actually supernatural, maybe their combined being in Serene's pregnancy allowed her to time travel. Maybe the twins themselves are the magic ones, constantly being labeled as having an unidentified personality disorder and being overall strange. I really don't know where this book is going specifically, but I do not see Serene becoming a part of the twins' lives by the end of it. She is chaos as soon as she comes into their lives, and I think that in the universe they have, the twins cannot have what they desire most - a mother. It is too late for that bond, and I hope Clara specifically centers more on her relationship with her sister than the one with Serene, and that Dempsey overcomes her fear of her sister enough to love her.
Alexandra O'Brien
11/19/2025 02:39:07 pm
In all honesty, I am not sure. A lot of the time, I am so busy questioning what's reality and looking for confirmation of what might be. I am a bit concerned with Clara in all honesty, more than a bit in all fairness. Between her substance abuse issues, her trauma, and her unreliable narration, AND her insane thoughts on a random woman being her mother, all make me question her and have concern for her. Then again, I am also concerned for Dempsey and her running from all of this; it all triggers her and makes her want to shove it out of her mind. Especially with Serene being aware of what Clara thinks of her or WHO she thinks she is to her. I am not so concerned with the ending confirming who Serene is or what happened to the mother, I am honestly more focused on seeing a world where these two characters stop struggling with this conflict - it defines them so so much. I would love to see them get some resolution to their trauma, maybe stop living in this confusing world where they focus entirely on the past and how it is affecting them. I wouldn't need to know the mystery of their mother - and neither would they, if they found a way to focus on the present. Clara and Dempsey are the people I am invested in finding a resolution to their conflict, which is how confusing their life is when they focus on their mother. So, Serene needs to go! Or at least this "fake" one, and they need to find a way to come together as siblings, finally.
Ashley Luise
11/19/2025 02:43:29 pm
I am so invested in seeing who Serene really is and by extension, if our reliable narrator is Clara, Dempsey, or neither of them, and I think this is very likely to happen at some point in the novel. To me, the mystery of who this Serene is is the twistiest part of the story and the part of the plot that makes me want to keep reading. Seeing Clara and Dempsey’s thoughts about who Serene become more similar has been fascinating; I loved getting to see Dempsey interact and be mothered by Serene, the same one she called “the impostor” (148), in a way she did not get growing up with her adoptive father. Dempsey hasn’t seemed particularly interested in having a mother figure, at least in comparison to Clara to this point, and I wonder if it is the sudden presence of one that makes her desire for it. This scene evidences that we eventually will find out exactly who Serene is to the twins because I have a feeling that as Dempsey gets closer to finding herself outside of what has been shaped by outside forces and Clara begins to face reality about her relationship with Serene, the truth will come out. Given how opposite the twins’ thoughts and perspectives on Serene have been to this point, I am not as sure if we’ll find out the truth from either of them though. I’m at a loss for how we could conceivably find out the relationship between Serene and the twins, but for now I predict that we as readers may have to use what is offered to us in the text to form our own judgements about the reality of the situation. We may get a more reliable narrator if either twin decides to distance herself from Serene, but I find this ending a lot less probable given how connected both twins now are to this idea of their mother living among them.
Nina
11/19/2025 02:43:30 pm
Despite being behind a little on the reading, I just know that there is weird stuff going on with the twin's mother. I just can't imagine that they are meeting their actual mother who appears to look their own age (unless there is some sort of magical twist, but nonetheless the book is already pretty bizarre). I'm very intrigued by Clara's character, as right from the start she just came across as off-putting in a way. I'm really questioning how much of a reliable narrator she is. Like, is this "real" life, or is it just a continuation of her story? I could see there being a twist with the idea that this is a part of her narrative. I definitely need to keep reading to see where my head is at in like 50 pages or so... I'll definitely revisit this...
Glen Beaulieu
11/19/2025 02:43:56 pm
Okay, I have a LOT of thoughts about how this book is going to end. I'm about halfway through this book, and I'm wondering if I'm crazy to think that this book is going to end with the revelation that Clara, Serene, and Dempsey are the same person. Am I thinking about the movie "Split"? Yes, but still. In my last post, I was wondering how real the sudden appearance of Serene was, but now, as I get farther into the book, I'm thinking that these characters might be different identities. Clara and Dempsey are different people, sure, but, at the same time, they struggle with the same thing. Clara even mishears Serene say as much on page 170 with the whole "Same fears/Same ears" thing. The fact that Dempsey *immediately* becomes enraptured by Serene just as Clara did only furthers this for me. There are so many little moments that pop up every time I think I'm reading too much into things, like how Clara tells Serene to say her name is "Kallis" (Clara's adopted surname) to Emma on the phone, or how Clara "forgets" that she talked about her diagnosis. Every character in this novel wears a mask---I think there's even a point (I can't find it at the moment) where Clara says she can see Serene's mask "drop," which, sure, could be talking about Serene pretending to be a mother when she is actually taking advantage of Clara, but I can't stop thinking about what if this is one character living 3 separate lives? That when one character sees the other two, they are really physical manifestations of the other identities contained within this one person. The fact that all of the colors in this novel seem to, at times, blend into one another is something I've been noting a lot of as well. Serene is yellow, Clara is blue, Dempsey (I think) is red, and then there is green (Clara and Serene together) and Purple (Dempsey and Clara). I'm so fascinated by this book that I think I'm never going to actually guess the ending... Leave a Reply. |
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