Who is most at fault, and why?

In the end, of everyone, which character is most at fault, and why? 

In my opinion the physician is most at fault. He should have stopped seeing patients a long time ago or perhaps never gotten into family Medicine. He used his privilege to do harm which is malpractice. He had all kinds of identity and security issues which were manifested in dangerous ways.

Marc, the doctor. He is arrogant and has no sense of conscience, ethics, or morals. I hope I never see a physician like him!

Of course Marc. He so strangely was eager to go to the summer house and why would he ever agree to camp on the lawn. I hope he got his when the Board of Medical Examiners finally met!

Each character has tremendous faults. But I think Marc had the most faults of all. He should have given up medicine many years ago and with his callousness, perhaps not ever have practiced medicine at all. He has a total lack of taking control of situations around him. Everything he touches gets worse.

I don't think any one character is solely at fault. Circumstances and lack of character interact and provide fertile ground for bad things o happen. Marc is absolutely the worst of a despicable crew.

Yes Marc is a scoundrel because he took an oath to protect those who came to him for advice and his medical expertise, and we were privy to his private thoughts about bodies and the personalities of his patients, which was distasteful, but nothing …NOTHING, compares to men or in fact women, who take advantage of the young or the powerless and Ralph tried on a continuum to take advantage of the young and vulnerable around him…

At the end, it seems so strongly that Marc is at fault. He went along with what we all probably though, that Ralph hurt Julia...but he was wrong. And Marc hurt Ralph in a way that could not be remedied, what now? So, the repairman. We learn, raped Julia, but you are lead to think Ralph did. Ralph is sufficiently punished, if not more so, bc as we come to learn, he was innocent. But sadly, his dr hurt him on purpose to avenge a daughter. Holy Cow, this book. Marc is always at fault in my mind bc he tried to control everything- the trip, the events, Julia's rape, the outcome...he loved playing God, and yet, as a mortal, no good can come of it,

All of the adults bear some fault - but Marc bears the most.

Marc is most at fault for not protecting his family from Ralph's very bizarre behavior. His desire for Ralph's wife led him to place his daughters' needs second. If Marc wished to have a personal friendship with Ralph, then he should have released him as a patient. The whole terrible incident would have been avoided had Marc put his families needs first.

The cast of characters has quite a competition for most flawed, but Marc takes the cake and is responsible for the rape of Julia and, of course, Ralph's death. Specifically, it was Marc's lust for Judith that was the driver for the Schlosser's vacationing at the summer house and Julia's fateful night on the beach. Subjecting his young daughters to Ralph and Stanley's lecherous behavior was collateral damage to Marc's focused pursuit of Judith, and set up the unfortunate chain of events that followed.