The author leads us through this story using Juno. For a nice refreshing change, Juno actually thought the same things - and wondered the same things - that I did as the reader. For example, Juno acknowledged to herself that Neil could be the father of Christine's baby; she wondered if Neil had lied to her about seeing Christine earlier than May; she didn't trust Gavin Penrose; she suspected that Christine wasn't being honest with her and was holding something back; and I liked that she thought through the idea of Christine killing herself vs. being murdered. Juno was intelligent. Although she loved Christine and Neil, and had a significant history with them, she didn't play dumb when confronted with ideas that made her uncomfortable.
I loved the use of art, mythology, water, stained glass, painting and the journal entries to further the story. (Even though I personally would have read all of the journal entries the night they were first discovered!) I was intrigued by the Augustus/Clare/Eugenie and the Neil/Juno/Christine triangles; the themes of true love and unrequited love - the similarities and the difference between the two threesomes.
This story was a demonstration of how people are generally self-centered, as in "centered around self", not necessarily selfish. Most of the main characters in this novel were so centered on their own lives/secrets/problems that each person thought that everything that happened concerned them.
I was happy that the author killed off Christine because of a misunderstanding on the part of the doctor and the drug trial, rather than having Penrose kill her because of a family secret. That wouldn't have made sense to me. The doctor fearing that his drug trial was in jeopardy by Christine - THAT made sense.
An elemental question in this story surfaces again and again: is it better to live an unbearable life or just die? Eugenie, Neil, Christine all pondered this question.
Neil and Juno would never have lived "happily ever after" because the medication wasn't working for him. It was killing him. He would have refused to take any other medication that "dulled" his artistry - and therefore he would have been a threat to Juno and Bea. By saving Juno at the end, and dying himself, Neil finally redeemed himself from his earlier attempt on their lives and allowed Juno to find happiness with someone else (finally).
Wendy's Rating: *****
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