Hello Readers! We had a super fantastic book club meeting last Friday discussing Nicholas Sparks' newest novel,
Safe Haven and I cannot wait to share with you what we talked about! I will do my very best to remember who said what about everything and let you know their thoughts! (I took the notes this month, and I have to say that I did not do nearly as wonderful of a job as Joanna did last month!)
Present at the meeting were Alex, Amanda, Heather, Jean, Joanna, Lindsey, Melissa, Nikki and Shawna!
We started off by taking a poll on whether people liked the book or not. 6 girls loved it and 2 gave it an "ehhh" and one did not like the book.
The girls who did like the book said it was because it was suspenseful and not predictable. Some of the girls felt that the book hit close to home because they had friends in similar situations. Shawna said that she loves all Nicholas Sparks and loved that this book was no exception!
Joanna spoke up on behalf of those who did not care for the book and said that she felt that the main character had a weak personality and therefore she found it hard to relate to because she did not think she would ever be in that situation.
Here are some of the other topics discussed throughout the meeting:
Alex was impressed by the "plan" that Katie came up with and it left her wondering would I think of that? Though a lot of us thought we wouldn't be willing to go hungry the way she did upon leaving her marriage, eating only rice and beans. We thought that Erin, overall, had pretty low self esteem in order to get into that situation. Joanna and Lindsey pointed out that they both would have taken a serious step back on the honeymoon when Kevin hit Erin for the first time. Jean then noted that because of her childhood and relationship with her parents Erin did have very low self esteem and she was unlikely to stand-up for herself or to take a stand when things got dangerous. When we learned where she got her identity from, we were surprised to hear that she got it from the Feldman's. Lindsey said that when it was revealed that she got it from someone who trusted her she remembered thinking that she didn't have any friends. Jean was sad that Erin did not let the Feldman's know that she was safe after she had gotten away. As a group we pondered the thought that the Feldman's, who seemed to know about her struggles, would have let her have Katie's identity if they knew that it would help her escape. Nikki even joked that they could have set up a buffet; cheese, crackers, social security card, peanuts, cookies...
As the relationship between Erin and Kevin was revealed Amanda said it made her appreciate the current relationship she was in. When we discussed Erin staying with Kevin for as long as she did Joanna raised the question: why didn't she just kill him? She certainly had opportunity to poison his food or kill him in his sleep. Lindsey wondered if she did kill him would she be able to use a self defense claim? It said in the book that the police talked her out of pressing charges because Kevin was a cop, so if she did kill him would the police back her story or defend Kevin after his death, even if he was abusing his wife? The general consensus from the club was that the police would still defend Kevin and then Erin would be on the run for the rest of her life.
We discussed Alex as well as his relationship with Katie. We felt that the fact that Alex had gray hair was brought up too often, considering it actually had nothing to do with the plot. He could have just as easily had blond hair, brown hair, or purple hair. When we were reading about Katie's preparations for their first date we found her entire day to be quite unbelievable. (Mr. Sparks, we blame your male perspective for this!) As a group of women who have gone on first dates we can say without a shadow of a doubt that as a woman with that much on her plate for that day, there's no way she would have overslept! We also thought it was highly unlikely that she would have waited until that day to pick out her outfit! Nikki was certain that she would have had that outfit picked out and laid out on the bed long before that day. Katie spent her day shopping for new clothes, buying artwork for her house, and planning an elaborate menu that she then had to shop for. Once she got home, Katie decorated her home, made some preparations for the food, and HEMMED A NEW SKIRT. Because we would all just hem a skirt just before our first date with a guy we really like. Mr. Sparks, we can only assume from this description that you think all women are super heroes. While we are flattered by your assumption, we regret to inform you that you are incorrect and dare we say this is a very unrealistic view of how Katie would have spent the day of her first date. Though Joanna did like that Katie shopped at a thrift shop rather than a more expensive store.
But, why is there a first date anyway?
Joanna thought that the way Katie would sometimes cower at things people said could be perceived as off putting and wondered why Alex saw anything in her at all in the first place. Nikki countered this by pointing out that Alex had started to figure out Katie's past early on by her body language, etc., so he was expecting some of that kind of behavior from Katie. Amanda was disappointed that we did not get to see the relationship develop further before tragedy struck and that Alex and Katie never slept together. We thought that it was strange that Katie spent so little time at Alex's house, and noted that for sheer convenience it was likely that they would be spending more time at his house. When we discussed the argument that Katie and Alex had we were all very surprised that she would lash out at Alex and dare him to hit her. It showed that Katie was still defensive and does have very deep seated trust issues with men. In a sweeter moment between Alex and Katie, Heather liked the conversation they had about being a mother when Alex pointed out that she said she wanted to be mother after she had said she didn't want to have children, and Katie said "What's that got to do with it?"
When Kevin learns about Katie Feldman and as a result learns of the identity Erin assumed everyone was of course upset. Some were just heartbroken that Kevin was going to be able to find her again, while others thought that it was an "easy" way for him to find out. There was no real challenge to it and it was just a matter of luck. Alex, seconded by many others, was mad that she got a driver's license. Several people thought that she should not have taken such a risk while still running from her husband. Heather, however, pointed out that she wanted an identity, and getting the diver's license was a way for her to start building that new identity. In continuing along the lines of her identity, we also thought it was unfair of Katie to get so upset with Alex for wanting her to move on with him. She was very specific that she had left behind Erin and her old life, but then when he would try to talk about the future she would get upset and accuse him of not understanding that she was still the same person. We felt that if she was going to speak in such definitive terms when saying that she had moved on that she needed to pick a person to be, Erin or Katie, and either move on with her new life or delve into her past and figure what some of her issues in the past were.
Throughout Kevin's journey to and through Southport we were disturbed by the way he constantly quoted the Bible. Alex thought it was very hypocritical for him to be quoting the Bible and to be doing such terrible things but Nikki said that he didn't see it that way and it was a sickness that he had. In the end confrontation between Kevin, Erin and Alex we took a lot of issue.
When the house had been lit on fire Katie caught a glimpse of a portrait of Alex's deceased wife Carly. Since it was almost certain that everything would go up in flames Amanda, Jean, and Nikki thought she would save the portrait and were sad that she did not. Jean had envisioned Alex as a very manly man and was bothered by the way he was portrayed throughout the conflict. As a manly man we could not see why Alex would come in and just barrel through and crash his jeep. We thought he would fight Kevin and were very disappointed that he seemed to take such a non-confrontational response to the situation. We also thought that it was a unlikely that he would take his children to Katie's house, which was said to be over a mile from Alex's home, and then ride back to help her. Jean thought it was much more realistic that he would tell them to go hide across the road in the woods and not to come out until he told them to. Melissa also thought that Alex would have more of a hands on confrontation with Kevin but she thought, in true Nicholas Sparks tragic fashion, that Kevin would kill Alex and Katie would be left taking care of his children.
Perhaps the most surprising twist in the book was the relationship between Katie and Jo and what that actually turned out to be. Jean was very suspicious of Jo and thought that she was a spy sent from Kevin to watch Erin, while Lindsey figured out who she really was very early on, and Melissa thought the book was very predictable until the revelation about who Jo really was. It took Katie a while to learn the truth about Jo, though it was fitting that she figured it out right before reading the letter Carly left for her. And what were our thoughts on Carly's letter? Heather and Nikki thought that the letter was sweet and saw it as a way for Carly to leave her blessing behind for the woman who would ultimately take care of her husband and children, while Jean thought that it felt like someone telling her what to do, and she did not think it was something she would have reacted well to at all. Alex pointed out that we should remember this letter was actually written from a man's perspective and the issues which Jean had with the letter were probably things that a woman would write anyway.
In the end, when Katie and Alex were going through the remains of Alex's home, Heather liked that Alex apologized to Katie for the loss that she felt when Kevin died. Several people spoke out not agreeing with this, saying that Katie should be relieved and grateful that Kevin was out of his life, but Heather pointed out that for Katie, Kevin was really two different people and she was having trouble saying goodbye to her husband whom she loved and had many good memories with.
One other miscellaneous thought we had, as a group made up of mostly teachers, was that the children in this story spoke as though they were much older than they were supposed to be.
In the end, we took a poll to see what name we thought she would go by, Erin or Katie? Heather, Melissa, and Nikki thought she would still go by Katie, while everyone else thought she would go back to Erin.
Thanks for reading the notes from our book club meeting! Hopefully, you have something to add or share about your personal journey with Safe Haven!
