LAST POSTTT (although it is a littleeee bit late).
Alright so it starts off with James’s perspective, and honestly part of me thought he was going to commit himself too. He’s so filled with anger it’s bad. However, he starts to reflect on their differences. How their different takes on the world may have caused several miscommunications. She wanted to be different and break gender norms, he wanted to fit in and reduce racism.
“But different had been different for Marilyn” (Ng 251).
This quote is honestly such an eye-opener for the relationship of Marilyn and James. They both realize that things could have been better if they actually communicated. Which to be fair, it is a saying that communication is key in a relationship.
Back to Nathan, he’s hungover. Like majorly. (Poor Buddy). We’re brought back to the past. Nath is getting the details about moving into Harvard, and Lydia feels like she is losing him and is scared of letting him go. Which, I feel a little bit of older sibling guilt reading this especially since I’m the one going to college next year and leaving my siblings behind.

However, that means that Hannah and Lydia had a chance to get closer. But Hannah, having cleptomaniac tendencies, resulted with Lydia noticing the necklace her dad gave her on Hannahs’s neck. She kind of snapped here, resulting in Lydia ripping the necklace off of her sister’s neck. Lydia sees the necklace as a symbol that she’s stuck in the “perfect daughter” position, and she does not desire that on Hannah. This also kind of reminds me of generational trauma: inflicting your trauma onto the younger generations.
In this section, you can really see how everything piled up on Lydia, which I wonder if Hannah interfered, things would be different. In addition to that, Lydia attempts to be different and change something about her. She tries to make a move on Jack, which, ew. But he tells Lydia that he’s actually in love with Nath. Lydia reconsiders all of her interactions… when Jack asks about Nath at all times. And she’s upset to the point she threatens to tell Nathan (who hates Jacks’s guts). Which is so wrong of Lydia, I mean she trusted him with it, and all he did was confess his love so she would understand.
The story gets closer to her death dates, Marilyn is dismissive of all the signs Lydia points at. A fake smile plastered on her face (sadly). Lydia makes a plan. (My heart actually dropped 500 feet as she reflected on her life, trying to find out when everything went wrong). There’s such a gorgeous description of her reflection, it’s honestly amazing (Page 273 gets all the good details).
And then Lydia makes a decision at 2am, she goes out onto the lake. She promises to restart, to be happy, to live her life despite what her parents think. I get scared honestly. She rows out to the middle. I see this as a religious allusion, a rebirth. She decides to swim from the middle of the lake to shore, as a symbol to start anew. Which is actually so much more heartbreaking than what people think. Because she didn’t want to die, she just didn’t know to swim. I actually almost cried and I’ve never cried for books before.
Back to the present, everything has been a bit calmer. Hannah and Marilyn are finally bonding- even if it’s after the death of Lydia. I feel like Hannah is a symbol of new beginnings, a clean slate.
But Nath storms out to find Jack. There’s a confrontation between the two with Hannah as a witness. Nath resorts to anger and he assumes there is more to uncover to the story because Lyd and Jack hung out the night before she passed. Hannah knows that he didn’t do anything, and Jack assumed that Lydia told Nath.
Nath hits Jack (which he’s awful for that one), and Jack just takes it. I’m really pissed at Nath for resorting to anger. Hannah pushes Nate into the lake. It’s kind of a full circle moment in reference to Lydia. He partially wishes to drown, to get rid of the pain, but in the end he swims up as a natural reflex. He reflects on his own life choices, and he accepts Lydia’s death. He also promises to care for Hannah, “he doesn’t want to dive underwater and lose sight of her face.”
Honestly, the book leaves me with a bunch of questions about what happens next. How their relationships are mended, and how they move forward. I would rate it an 8.5/10 because it was a good book, beautiful writing and reflections, but the ending gets me wondering.
Themes: Grief, Family/Relationships, Racism, Sexism, Regret, and Sacrifices