inthewoods

IN THE WOODS Paige, Sam, and Amelia

Week 1: Paige: A Detective Ryan is the main character. We find it so intriguing that he knows about his life and we want to find out what happened in the woods twenty something years ago. We are drawn to him because of the hidden past that everyone wants to find out. He also had a good sense of humor and is dedicated to his job. We all agree that the Delvin family just plainly creeps us out and something is off about the way they act. They seem like a crazy, antisocial family- "eating their brains alive", like Amelia said. We were also very intrigued by the murder victim, Katy Devlin, who we don't know anything about except for the fact that she's dead.

Amelia: B/C

Quotes
 * 1) “Probably just somebody's nasty black poodle. But I've always wondered... What if it really was Him, and He decided I wasn't worth it?”
 * 2) “Despite numerous police appeals and a high-profile media campaign, no other trace of Peter Savage and Germaine Rowan was ever found.” page 6
 * 3) “'Mr. Devlin,' Cassie said gently, 'I've seen the little girl. She looks exactly like your daughter Jessica. We'll be asking you to come see the body tomorrow, to confirm her identity, but there's no doubt in my mind. I'm sorry.'” page 45
 * 4) “'Jesus fuck,' said O'Kelly. 'Are they trying o make everyone think this was some cult thing? What the fuck are they reading up there?'” page 82
 * 5) “Deep down, I think-ironic as it may seem-a part of me couldn't wait to see what would happen next.” page 91


 * 1) Did he have flash blacks of his own mystery?
 * 2) Yes he had flashbacks of his own mystery. As he learned more clues and items from his mystery he started to have flashbacks of the details of his mystery with his friends.
 * 3) What was the the case called out in the digging exhibit?
 * 4) The Devlin case. It was called the Devlin case because the child that was murdered had the last name Devlin.
 * 5) Why did the detective have to go to the digging exhibit?
 * 6) Well in a digging exhibit there should usually be bodies. But in this case, the body was found only 9 feet underground. Plus, the body was fresh, as if someone just dug her their. So the diggers, as a law, had to get detectives to check it out.
 * 7) Why did the detectives go to the Cameron Dance Academy?
 * 8) They went to the studio because that is where the girl danced. The detectives wanted to see if the dance studio knew any information.
 * 9) Did the Devlin child get murdered by her own family?
 * 10) As a group, we discussed that they did not murder their own daughter. To us it could be possible though. The Devlins are so weird and odd that it lead us to believe that they murder their own daughter. Then we discussed that the author would make it too easy to figure out. So we concluded that the Devlins did not kill their daughter.
 * 11) Do you think the wall near the forest has to do with any of the murders?
 * 12) As a group, we decided that the walls did not necessarily have to do with the murder but we think it symbolizes something. That something will be shown later in the book.

Sam: D Amelia, Paige, and I were excited to meet together again, and we were even more excited to begin the psychological thriller, In the Woods by Tana French. We all agreed that it was a little hard to understand in the beginning, mainly because of the Irish slang and detective jargon none of us was unaccustomed to. We then discussed the plot line and eerie similarities between the two cases – the first being the instance where Detective Robert Ryan and his friends disappeared into the Knocknaree woods and only he came back. Now he has returned to Knocknaree after several years to solve the murder of twelve-year-old Katy Devlin in the same woods. We all agree that being back in Knocknaree will trigger Detective Ryan’s memory of that terrible night and hopefully, both cases will be solved.

The author introduced us to several characters in the first five chapters alone. We talked about overall oddness of the Devlin family and Cassie Maddox, Robert Ryan’s partner and super awesome badass. We hypothesized that the relationship between Cassie and Rob will eventually become romantic, even though it seems to be brother-sisterly right now. When Cassie and Rob went to visit the Devlins to tell them that their daughter was dead, the first thing they said was “I’m sorry.” Paige pointed out that policemen always say this in crime shows and that it was just routine for them and they don’t really mean it. We concluded our book club by taking several guesses at the ending. Amelia hoped that the mystery would be solved in the end because she hates it when the author leaves you hanging.

Week 2:

Sam: A

The book contains long, drawn out sentences and vivid imagery, which is odd for a thriller such as this. It isn’t a complicated read, but it might a little more advanced for the sophomore grade level. There are references to Irish culture and you hear some words that Americans would not normally use. Overall, the language is easy to understand due to context clues. Tana French uses clever metaphors which really help you picture the story. For example, when Rob describes Auntie Vera’s bizarre toddler, he says that it looked like a “bonsai adult” with a bassoon voice.

Paige: B/C Questions 1. How do you think rob told cassie about his case in the woods? It says that she knows, but how? As Rob became friends with Cassie because they are partners, he began to open up to her. All of us picture them going to a bar, get drunk, and letting the truth come out.

2. Why do you think that rob came to a realization that he couldn’t go home when he was in boarding school (118) how do you think it effected his family? Rob realized after being there for a couple of years that he was never coming home. He matured and started to realize the real world. Jamie and Peter were never coming back.

3. Why do you think that the motorway couldn’t be moved over, and still have the same effect? The government was being just stubborn and arrogant. The government never gave us any real reason as to why they could not move the motorway over.

4. If you were cassie, rob, and sam would you have thought of the possibility of a hired killer?

5. Why do you think sam asked how cassie and rob met? Sam asked how Cassie and Rob met because it seemed they knew each other for a long time.

Quotes 1. “Sam arrived bang on time, looking like a kid on a first date-he had even slicked down his fair hair...-and carrying a bottle of wine”- 121 2. “‘She fights, he gets a hand over her mouth, he hits her again-maybe as she’s trying to crawl away, something like that-and this one knocks her out. But, instead of keeping on hitting her with the rock-even though they’ve been struggling and his adrenaline must be through the roof at this stage- he drops it and suffocates her.’”- 124 3. “‘One as mad as the other.’”-132 4. “The sea is several streets away and there was no way i could have heard it, but i imagined i did.”- 136 5. “...slowly at first, harmless, almost comic, then gathering momentum and transformint into a merciless wrecking ball.”- 103

Amelia: D

In this week, Sam, Paige and I all read up to chapter 10. All of us were excited to read the next part of the book, to see what happens to the unsolved murders. This week, we focused on the language of the book and determined if the book was appropriate for high school. We also answered the questions that Paige asked and read great quotes.

We discussed who we thought murdered the girl and the detective's two friends. We concluded that the person was someone not around the area, We think this murderer knows the woods well. So well that they know every inch of it.

Week Three

Amelia: A

It is dark but has some light parts of it. The lights parts are there to trick the reader while reading the book. The book is very suspenseful and makes you want to know what happens next. The book overall, if one looks at it as solving murder cases has a dark tone to it. But as a reader reads the book, it does not want to make one think sad or it does not want to make one cry.

Sam: B and C 1. “Losing a chunk of your memory is a tricky thing, a deep-sea quake triggering shifts and upheavals too far distant from the epicenter to be predictable” (212).

2. “The windows were grimy, and the late-afternoon sun filtering through them slid confusingly off glass-fronted cabinets and the polished wood of the dining table, giving the room a streaky, underwater luminescence. I could hear a clock ticking in the kitchen, heavy and achingly slow, but apart from that there wasn’t a sound, even outside the house; all of Knocknaree might have gathered itself up and vanished itself into thin air, except me and Jonathan Devlin” (227).

3. “’There was no rape, but if – let’s just say - there had been, Jonner would never in a million years have had the balls to think of it… The guy doesn’t have the nerve to kill a kitten, never mind a kid” (241).

4. “I listed for him, one by one, the suspects we had identified and eliminated… I could feel the frail, mute army of photographs behind me, waiting” (252).

5. “For a moment I felt as if the universe had turned upside down and we were falling softly into an enormous black bowl of stars and nocturne, and I knew, beyond any doubt, that everything was going to be okay” (270).

1. Describe Rob’s relationship with his parents. Do you think it was somehow impacted by his horrific experience? His parents probably became more reserved after the incident. They were afraid that whatever happened in the woods changed him somehow. It also unnerved them that he completely changed in personality after his second year of boarding school. Earlier in the book, Rob says that he felt as if they were afraid that there was some monster inside him that was waiting to come out.

2. What was Rob’s memory about? Do you think it has anything to do with the case? Rob’s memory was about the three older boys who hung out around the woods and sometimes confronted him and his friends. He remembers seeing them rape a girl, who he remembers to be Sandra. These three boys turned out to be Jonathan Devlin, Cathal, and Shane. They suspect that Jonathan might have sexually abused his daughter based on this circumstance and guess that he is the murderer.

3. Describe Jonathan Devlin’s connection to Rob. Do you suspect him of murdering his daughter? Jonathan was one of the older boys who sometimes saw Rob and his friends hanging around in the woods. We guess that Mr. Devlin had somehow played a part in his daughter’s murder, whether by himself or as an accomplice.

4. What is the real reason Cassie dropped out of Trinity? Why do you think she finally told Rob? Cassie dropped out because this boy she was friends with turned out to be a psychopath He made up stories of how they were secretly dating and that Cassie would tell the police he raped her if he broke up with her. She told Rob to explain why she had this skill to identify psychopaths, which could foreshadow some events in the future. It also shows the development of their relationship. As they get further into the book, Rob starts to learn about himself and a little more about her.

5. Why did Rob react so violently while interviewing Devlin? Do you think Cassie will rat out his connection to the 1984 case if he continues to act this way? Rob reacted so violently because the case is personal. For many years, he has wanted to know what happened to his friends. His frustration ended up being directed at Devlin, thus resulting in his violent reaction. We don’t think that Cassie will tell their boss. She is too loyal of a friend to do that and that one betrayal would ruin their partnership.

Paige: D First, at our 3rd book club, we decided to go over Sam's quotes. We all ended up agreeing that we all wouldn't be able to handle losing a big chunk of memory like Rob did. We then discussed the questions and answered them, and our main discussion for all them are answered above. We then discussed the topic for today's book club, the Mood and Tone. We decided that it was a dark book, but it has its moments that are light and funny, but Sam thinks that the author is playing a trick on the mind. "In the Woods" is very suspenseful, which makes you want to know what happened to Peter, Jamie, and Katy and is keeping the reader intrigued. We all agreed that when a person sees that a book is about 2 murder cases, you automatically think it is going to be so scary, but it really isn't. It isn't terribly scary, as none of the group has cried yet reading it.

Week 4: Paige: A never sleep with people you work with becsuse then it will just be plain awkwardness. Finding one’s past. the wall deviding the wood from the estate is a definite image because it represents safety from danger due to the 2 different cases. She conveys her meaning using the wall to represent how safe the estate is versus how dangerous the wood is, due to the 2 murder cases.

Amelia: B&C

Quotes

1. “ I was the person who beyond any doubt knew at least some of the answers, and if anything could give them back to me, it was that wood.” page 264

2. “It was only much later, when the case was over and the dust had settled on the debris, when I prodded cautiously at the edges of my memory and came up empty; it was only then that I began to think this might be not a deliverance but a vast missed chance, an irrevocable and devastating loss.” page 299

3. “ For once I woke first. It was very early, the roads still silent and the sky-Cassie, high above the rooftops with no one to look in her window....” page 288

4. “Her hair danced in the sun coming through the leaves, and in spite of everything I smiled.” page 296

5. “For a moment the room seemed to fold in on itself, as if some explosion too enormous to be heard had sucked all the air away.” page 340

Questions 1. What was happening on the first page of Chapter 15? He was going to the woods because he was drunk. He went to the woods to see if he can remember anything from his murder. During this whole book, Ryan desperately tries to figure out is life murder.

2. Cassie Maddox, Ryan's partner, is perhaps the most consistently appealing character in the novel. What are her most attractive qualities? What are the weaker points of her personality? Does Ryan ever fully appreciate her?

Cassie’s attractive qualities make her unique and special. After all, she is talented, she always is in control and she can be the most tough person at the police station. Even though has a lot of good qualities, she has qualities that make her seem weak. She can be very reserved and in the book she never really tells people about her past. Ryan does not really appreciate her. Especially after the night they slept together.

3. After sleeping together, Ryan and Cassie cease to be friends. Why do you think the experience of physical intimacy is so damaging to their relationship?

Cassie and Ryan should not have slept together from the start. They have a more brother and sister relationship. Meaning they love each other because the other person is their brother or sister not because they have affection for the other person. They also are partners in the work place; One thing to learn is not sleep with your co-workers because after that night it can get very awkward. Ryan was also being jerk. He could have been a jerk just because he was drinking. It was also a time They were also drunk and at a weird mental state.

4. Are there other reasons why their friendship falls apart other than sleeping together?

He is so emotional and as a womanly personality. In the entire book, Ryan is very emotional especially since he is trying to solve his own murder. Cassie does not want to deal with it that much. She is tough and does not like the mushy gushy stuff and feelings. 5. What clues do we know from the murders? Do you think by the end of the book, will the mystery be solved? Katy’s mystery as a good chance of getting solved. Reason being, they brought a lot of leads from her murder. Ryan also has a good chance of figuring out his friends murder. The book always talks about it so much that it has to be solved by the end. Usually in books, the characters find out almost everything that is mentioned in the book, as this murder was mentioned multiple times.

Sam: D

After trudging to school in the winter snow, Paige, Amelia and I settled down with a few 100 Calorie packs and some bagels to discuss the second to last section of our book. We discussed how the action seemed to be picking up quite a bit. For one thing, we find out who murdered Katy Devlin. Although, we were slightly disappointed about Damien’s anti-climatic confession. We did not really suspect him before because he seemed so innocent and weak when we were first introduced to him in the beginning that we almost forgot about him.

In one of her questions, Amelia brought up the fact that Rob and Cassie actually slept together. Paige thought this was really inappropriate because not only are they coworkers, but they act like brother and sister. We all agreed that Rob was acting like the woman in the relationship because he became overly emotional afterwards. He avoided Cassie when she tried to talk to him about it, which ruined their harmonious partnership. We concluded by talking about the themes in the novel, such as the death of innocence and finding one’s past.

Week 5 Amelia: A

__In the Woods__ will not go down as an “all-time classic," mainly because of its unsatisfying ending. The ultimate message of the book is to not let your past control you and that no one will have a complete happily ever after. We would recommend it, but don’t think that it should be the a part of the school curriculum. It is a good book, but one can not really learn something from it. If you asked us before this time of book club, we would have said “sure!” but now, after knowing the ending, we would not recommend it because a major (and the most interesting) part of the book wasn’t solved.

Paige: B/C 1. Do you think that the diary in the ballet studio could have helped Cassie and Rob in the case? this just gave evidence to how crazy Rosalind was, and how she was violent to Katy, but we already knew this. 2. How did you feel when Adam didn’t actually double check Rosalind’s age when Cassie interviews her? “you’re such an idiot”- Sam 3. Did the relationship between Damien and Rosalind shock you? yeah, Damien’s so weak, and Rosalind gets what she wants--but once we saw the phone logs, it was easy to see, yet before we weren't expecting it. 4. why do you think the author decided just to drop Adam’s case in the woods? she wanted to show maybe in real life you’ll never get a complete happy ending, even though we preferred to know what happened 5. what did you think of Damien’s confession (before we found out about the Rosalind part)? that’s it? we both didn't think he had a true motive for killing her, since he seemed like he didn't want to do it.

quotes 1.”Memory magnifies it to a wrenching, echoing crack, but the truth is that it was the very smallness that made it so terrible.”- page 363 2. “...;of all of those who hold life so light, or the stakes so dear, they can walk steady and open-eyed to meet the thing that will take or transform their lives and whose high cold criteria are far beyond our understanding. i tried, for a long time, to remember bringing my mother wildflowers.”- page 387 3. “Cassie let out her breath. ‘Inadmissible,’ she said. ‘Every fucking word.’”- page 406 4. “Peter, Jamie, the bikers and Sandra, the wood, every scrap of memory i had retrieved with such laborious care over the course of operation vestal: gone.”- page 419 5. “I never knew, not then, not now, whether Cassie thought she had hung up, or whether she wanted to hurt me, or whether she wanted to give me one last gift, one last night listening to her breathe.”- page 425

Sam: D

To kick off our final book club meeting, Paige and I discussed the polarizing ending. We both were not satisfied because the author only solved the Katy Devlin case and not the 1984 case. We think the book would have been much better if the readers were given closure about Rob’s past. Though, we believe that this ending was more realistic because the author shows how happy ending never happen in real life. We were also rather frustrated with how the Devlin case was solved. We felt as though there was no real justice because the real culprit in the murder, Rosalind, did not go to jail. Damien, even though he was the murderer, is not the sole holder of the blame.

What was even more disappointing was how Rob treated Cassie as the case was finally being solved. He accused her of divulging his real identity to their boss and treated her horribly after they slept together. We thought that it was good that Cassie and Sam ended up together, because Rob did not deserve her. We noticed that the female characters in the novel seemed a lot stronger than the male characters. Rob was gullible and more emotional than a pregnant woman. Damien was weak and only did what others told. Then there’s Cassie, who can fire a gun, psychoanalyze suspects, and drive a moped. There’s Rosalind, who can manipulate anyone and has all the guys wrapped around her finger. We concluded our meeting, saying that we wanted to read the sequels and couldn’t wait to get started on our next book club.