First book done, 67 to go!

I finished reading my first book! I loved the way the author, Jacquelyn Mitchard, ended the book. Not a completely happy ending but satisfying enough. (You’ll have to read it yourself to find out how the book ends.) I reviewed the suggested book club questions in the back of the book and there was only one that I wanted to respond to:

Q:  The title, The Deep End of the Ocean, refers to Ben’s first, timid reaction to a large body of water. Later in the novel, Beth reflects that Ben has indeed been to the ocean’s deep end, and returned. What does the title mean to you? How have other members of the Cappadora family been to the deep end of the ocean?

A: First, when I think about the deep end of the ocean I think of a place that remains undiscovered by man. I think of living organisms that have not been seen before. The title of this book seems to be referring to this same concept but when it involves the grief of a person. Everyone deals with grief differently and no one knows where a grieving person’s “deep end of the ocean” will be and what it will consist of.

Secondly, I believe that every member of the Cappadora immediate family has experienced their “deep end of the ocean”, with the exception of little Kerry who may still be too young to truly understand the experiences happening within the family. Beth was so depressed that she disconnected from her kids and husband and was eventually unfaithful. Pat, Beth’s husband, suffered physical ailments due to the stress within the family and even considered divorce for a time. Vincent acted out his emotional pain with physical violence and resorted to changing his name. Even Ben experienced grief when he was stripped from his kidnapped family and placed in his biological parent’s home. Just as Ben says in Chapter 3, “You can go to the deep end. You can go there. You just start walking, until it goes over your head and then you keep on walking on the bottom. But then if you want to go back, that’s too hard because the water just rubs all of the feet marks away. You can’t ever turn around and go back. You can’t find it”. Grief can overtake a person like the ocean and it can be hard to ever come back.