Last night at my book discussion group, we discussed Laura Moriarty's book The Rest of Her Life.
Eighteen year-old Kara is driving with her best friend Willow when she notices a stray dog running across a busy street. Worried that the dog might get hurt, Kara pulls into a parking lot and tries to get the dog to come to her. She succeeds, and both she and Willow drive off to take him to a local animal shelter. While Kara is calling the shelter, she runs a stop sign, killing Bethany, a sixteen year-old girl crossing the street. What follows is how both families, and the small community, comes to grip with the tragic accident, and how it will affect Kara "the rest of her life."
We had a very interesting discussion. Many people didn't like Kara's mother, Leigh. She seemed to be more concerned about how Bethany's mother is dealing with the accident, rather than how her daughter is coping. Towards the end of the story, Leigh begins following (we decided stalking was a better word) Bethany's mother every Thursday and several evenings during the week. When Bethany's mother finally confronts her, Leigh's comment is that she was worried about how she (Bethany's mother) was coping with her daughter's death. Hmmmmm......
Several people were disappointed with the book's ending. I, however, didn't mind the ending. There were several people and things that were just thrown in. Almost as if the author was going to write more about it, but forgot to.
