Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7 and 8 were great! Jean and Joe FINALLY see each other after 6 years. I found my heart breaking for a second for her when he doesn’t recognize her in the airport and walks in the other direction. But then she goes to talk to him and they start talking like the 6 years that separated them never happened. I want to skip the summary part of my blog for now, maybe I’ll go back to it when I have more time, and go straight to the part about how I feel about these chapters. I was simply delighted when Jean and Joe decide to get married the following year. It was kind of predictable but not at all boring how the entire thing worked itself out. I feel kind of bad for Mr. Strachan at the end of chapter eight though. Oh, and I was so entirely focused on the plot of the novel that I completely forgot the novel was being narrated by Mr. Strachan himself. But the reason I feel bad for him is because even though he is seventy-three years old and old enough to be Jean’s grandfather (which makes it kind of gross) he reveals to himself that maybe he did love her. After he got Jean’s letter saying that she and Joe would be getting married, he was so out of it he crossed a street and didn’t even notice and got hit by a taxi. He didn’t die or anything though. I noticed the fact that he might have been in love with Jean or liked her a little too much in the first couple chapters of the novel, so it didn’t come off as a huge surprise when he finally noticed it himself. The fact that it’s gross that a 73 year old man would have feelings for a girl that could be his granddaughter doesn’t just stop a reader who read the novel from feeling sorry for the guy. I mean, if I just saw the facts and not the story behind it, I would also think it’s disgusting and not feel sorry for him at all; so I’d understand if someone reading this doesn’t get why I feel sorry for Mr. Strachan.