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The Things We Keep


A poignant story of one of today's nightmares: early-onset Alzheimer's.
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The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Created: 02/23/16

Replies: 20

Posted Feb. 23, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Anna and Eve are at the center of this story, but The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?


Posted Feb. 28, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
MSWaters's Gravatar
MSWaters

Join Date: 02/28/16

Posts: 4

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

My favorite secondary character was Luke. Luke is essential to the story because he's Anna's love interest at the home, but he doesn't say much, for obvious reasons with his condition, but the reader gets to know and love him through the gentleness he shows Anna and the others at the home. For example, he loves playing with the therapy dogs that are brought in for the patients, but because Anna is afraid of dogs because of an incident when she was young, Luke stops visiting the dogs in order to spend more time with Anna. He also instinctively protects her. Anna and Luke's love for each other is wonderfully endearing, yet horribly sad. It's reminiscent of the situation the old couple in Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook" share for each other. (I'm not a Sparks fan, but I think that's his best book because of Noah and Allie's love.)


Posted Feb. 29, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
gwenc

Join Date: 07/14/12

Posts: 94

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Favorite isn't the right word - maybe "vivid" - but the character of Eric, the sleaze ball manager, was so aptly portrayed: his high pitched giggle, pot bellied "I'm the man" manner, etc. I lived in fear he would rape Anna - or Eve.


Posted Feb. 29, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
bestmartin's Gravatar
bestmartin

Join Date: 02/20/13

Posts: 103

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I agree with MS Waters. Luke was my favorite. He was so endearing and sweet and not embittered by his condition. Plus he made a decision to keep on living and giving and showing up in whatever he could. That's the spirit I'd like to have given his situation.


Posted Feb. 29, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ScribblingScribe

Join Date: 02/29/16

Posts: 189

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Definitely Luke. He was so sweet in his silence. His love of life was infectious and beautiful. How could you not love him?


Posted Feb. 29, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dorothyh

Join Date: 01/23/15

Posts: 225

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Luke, he seemed so kind and gentle.


Posted Mar. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rebeccar

Join Date: 03/13/12

Posts: 548

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

As for a "favorite" secondary character... memorable (in a creepy way, that is) might be a better description, and my vote goes for Eric. I did not like him from the start, thanks to the author's gift of writing.


Posted Mar. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
pennyp

Join Date: 03/22/12

Posts: 353

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I, as many of the others, liked Luke. It seemed to me that Luke and Anna would have made a great couple even if they met by more normal circumstances. He was gentle and kind and even handsome!


Posted Mar. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
diannes

Join Date: 12/04/11

Posts: 4

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Angus, whom proved that looks are deceiving. A real renaissance man.


Posted Mar. 03, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
maribethr

Join Date: 10/29/14

Posts: 26

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Thumbs up! I found Angus to be a fascinating spin on the characters you would normally find working in a healthcare facility. His interests and talents were interesting, and I always felt appreciative of his support of Eve.


Posted Mar. 03, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
susanr

Join Date: 04/14/11

Posts: 201

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I think that my favorite secondary character was Clementine. Even though she was young, she had been through so much and she was trying to absorb all of the changes in her life. Along with losing her father, she had to move to a shabby apartment, have her mother go to work, lose her best friend and then to top it all off, she got bullied. But she still was kind to the people at the nursing home and helpful to her mom.


Posted Mar. 04, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
iread49

Join Date: 04/10/13

Posts: 54

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Luke was my favorite. So sweet and kind. The description of Eric is cemented in my mind.


Posted Mar. 04, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
iread49

Join Date: 04/10/13

Posts: 54

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Luke was my favorite. So sweet and kind. The description of Eric is cemented in my mind.


Posted Mar. 05, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
johannam

Join Date: 03/24/13

Posts: 11

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I loved Clara and Laurie! What a love story!!


Posted Mar. 05, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
scottishrose

Join Date: 07/24/11

Posts: 220

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I liked Bert. In many ways I feel he understood he was talking to his dead wife. He just didn't want to let her go. We see that in his conversation with Clem near the end of the book. I also found it endearing how he related to a young girl.


Posted Mar. 06, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
rebeccak

Join Date: 05/26/12

Posts: 78

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I adored Clementine and the way she interacted with some of the residents (particularly Bert, the man who kept a seat for his dead wife at each meal). There was something adorable about the way a little girl could make a lonely old man feel better.


Posted Mar. 06, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
darylb

Join Date: 06/23/13

Posts: 142

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

Hard to pick just one! I liked Clementine. It broke my heart reading all she had to deal with at such a young age. I loved the way she charmed all the residents at Rosalind House. I enjoyed the cast of characters there- Bert, Clara and Laurie, and of course, Luke.


Posted Mar. 08, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Peggy H

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 272

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I liked the other residents- all of whom were individuals. Bert was interesting and supported by the others. I liked the interactions between him and Clementine. Luke, mot a very minor character was so feeling and kind, maybe not typical of dementia. Eric was kind of a characters but well described. They all added color to the story.


Posted Mar. 08, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Retired Reader, NE

Join Date: 09/16/11

Posts: 165

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

It was interesting to have a silent character, Luke, who was so essential to the story.


Posted Mar. 12, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
amandap

Join Date: 03/12/16

Posts: 12

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I loved Clara and Bert. I love a grouchy old man. Clara and Laurie's love story touched my heart. There is so much sweetness with the way Laurie treats her as she lay dying.


Posted Mar. 19, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
gwenc

Join Date: 07/14/12

Posts: 94

RE: The Things We Keep is full of colorful secondary characters. Who were your favorites?

I enjoyed Anna's renaming of the residents as her memory failed.


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