What do you think compels Linda to take the shoes to Lily's house?

As Linda is about to walk into her home after spending the night at Patra's, she suddenly decides to take her canoe to Lily's home and leaves her a pair of black suede boots that she's taken from the lost and found earlier in the week. What do you think compels Linda to do this?

On some level Linda wants to believe she is equal to or better than Lily? Is this possible? I thought she did this as a way of - in her own mind at least - raising herself above? But, perhaps it is a subconscious way of helping when she wasn't much help to Paul she thought she could at least help Lily? I was confused by this as my answer show - looking for insight from others.

I don't think I will be of much help to susiej because I too was puzzled by Linda's actions and reactions to Lily. At first I thought she wanted to be friends with Lily. She looked for her in class, wondered about her when her desk was empty, thought she saw her in the diner. When she took the boots out to Lily's home I thought she wanted to talk to her and also to find out about the teacher. Again maybe, as a friend. The book had such a pivotal story I actually wondered if the story of Lily was even necessary.

First, I had to figure out why Lily is in the book. The reason centers on Linda and Lily's differences. The most obvious is that Linda is plain and Lily is beautiful. But Lily goes from beloved to ignored because of her perceived actions with Mr. Grierson. Perhaps Linda takes the boots to Lily because Linda wants Lily to know that she, Linda, still accepts her.

I really have not given this any thought & won't do it now. I don't know.

Linda both envies and pities Lily. She wants to help Lily, unsure of what happened to her and whether she needed help. It felt a little like this was given shortshrift to stay within 300 pages. More development was possible, but it didn’t detract from the primary story.

To some extent, Lily and Linda were similar. They both lived in isolated areas and in family situations that differed from their peers. If anyone could have been a good friend to Linda, Lily was the best bet. Linda noticed the changes in others' attitudes toward Lily. Linda knew what it was like to be shunned, ignored, talked about, and teased. I think she was beginning to learn more about relationships with others through her observations and interactions with Paul and Petra. I believe she wanted to give Lily a gift, as a show of friendship--something more tangible than a note of support-- I believe she hoped that Lily would reciprocate with her time and attention.

I had not read the responses to the question prior to posting any of my comments, and I find it so interesting to see bits and pieces of my own feelings in all of the responses. Probably my strongest sentiment was Linda's hope of having an excuse to make Lily feel secure enough to come out to her and then having a chance to whisper a question or two about the accused teacher, Mr . G. However, I ultimately was confused about whether or not Mr. G had actually written about or even mentally thought about the sexual interaction with Lily. Was it only Linda's warped mind imagining that he thought that? In my mind, the confusion about what really did happen or was only imagined and then the question of imagined-by-whom is one of the weaknesses of this book.