What did you think of the big twist at the end of the book? Did you see it coming?
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Created: 07/09/13
Replies: 38
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It's funny - I did NOT see that ending coming... and it made me like the book more! There were a couple of times where I thought I knew what was coming, but the "big twist" was not it. I made some notes as I read the book but I think I left that list in the book - which I have already passed on to a sibling to read with the advice to not give up, finish the book, and don't scan the ending.
Join Date: 03/15/13
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I loved the ending and absolutely did not see it coming at all. That really surprised me because I have read so many books and very often have it figured out ahead of time. Not this time, and that is just one of the many reasons why I loved The Secret Keeper so much!
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I certainly did not see that coming. I was more leaning toward thinking that Dorothy had suffered a terrible trauma during the war and combined with the loss of her parents had just blocked it all out. The Dorothy Laurel knew had suffered horribly during the war but not in the way I was thinking. Sure did make me appreciate the ability of Kate Morton to tell a story.
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I kind of did see it coming. About 2/3 of the way through the book, I suddenly started feeling that young Dolly and Dorothy the mom didn't seem like they could be the same person and the idea that it could be Vivien kind of popped into my head. I was just sure that Vivien was being abused and it made more sense that her husband would not have stopped trying to find her than that he would have bothered tracking down Dolly. It didn't detract from the end at all; in fact, it kept me racing through the book to see how it happened. The tatty white fur coat threw me off because I couldn't find a way to get it into Vivien's hands.
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No way. In fact I felt a bit manipulated by the sudden twist, because I found the pace of the story as it developed a bit frustrating - lots of descriptive stuff that seemed to no purpose (in fact I still feel there were lots of rabbit trails, and I hate that). All of a sudden the last 70 pages hit and bam!
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I'd read somewhere that there was a twist, and at some point I wondered about the two women switching places... but I couldn't make it work, forgot about it, & then was shocked at the ending after all.
This is one of those books where the ending really made it for me. My biggest issue, as others have posted, was that young Dolly and old Dorothy seemed like two completely different people all along, and I was frustrated with the author for not demonstrating how Dolly could have changed so completely. And then I hit the ending and... well, it all made perfect sense, everything clicked into place and I ended up liking the book after all.
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Like "jeannew" I felt the disconnect with the early Dolly and Dorothy the mother. But I kept looking for the defining moment that changed Dolly rather than catching on to the switch in the characters. I think the author masked the ending very well. It surprised me and I liked the book because I was surprised. The ending also made it all make sense. It's satisfying when the author brings closure and it felt good to see the two "nice" people survived.
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No I didn't at all, and I am usually pretty good at figuring out plot twists. That said I felt it was a great way to pull the story together and answer some questions I had. Those questions included "How did such a self-absorbed Dolly turn into a caring Dorothy?" Also, "If Dolly was so in love with Jimmy, how did she fall so completely for Laurel's father?"
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No, I did not. I figured out that Vivien was being abused by her husband, and that was why she rejected Dorothy so coldly, and I could not believe that the very shallow and immature Dorothy could possibly be Laurel's loving mother, or that the loving mother could kill a man so easily. But I didn't put the clues together before the author revealed all. Kate Morton is a deft and gifted writer.
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Glad to see that I was not alone to be surprised by the BIG Switch. I didn't have a clue.
Best part of the book and made my perseverance worth while.
Thought it was about family secrets but never about domestic abuse even though I knew Vivian was being abused in London.
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I, like some others here, did see the ending coming, but not until Jimmy and Vivien began working on the play together. I worried, actually, as the end drew closer, that I was going to be wrong about my guess. She kept us waiting until the very end, didn't she?!
I was so happy with that turn of events because I strongly disliked Dorothy, yet I liked Laurel's mother quite a bit. As others mentioned earlier, it seemed like it would be an impossible task to reconcile the two.
I think the author handled the physical evidence and the personal histories/stories elegantly. It is difficult to pull off such a twist, but it was believable.
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