Why do you think Noa decided not to fight for her life once the trial was finished?

Noa does not help a great deal with her appeals, although she did push forward with a defense at trial. Why do you think Noa decided not to fight for her life once the trial was finished?

At least part of the reason Noa decided not to fight for her life, I believe, was because of the guilt she felt about her friend Persephone's death and her subsequent cover-up of the incident. She lied so successfully and must have harbored mixed emotions about what she did. I believe that Noa P thought she deserved to die.

I agree with marilynj in that it appeared Noa thought she deserved to die. I think that is also why she did so little to help herself during the trial and appeals. Did she feel she was hardwired to continue reacting violently in situations that reminded her of her mother's reaction when Noa was "dropped" as a 10 month old child? I had a had time "suspending my disbelief" when I was asked, as a reader, to believe that Noa remembered this incident as clearly as she seemed to in the novel. Noa's reactions - with the death of Persephone, and then with the death of Sarah, mimicking her mother's reactions left Noa of no hope for change or forgiveness.

Noa had lived a lie most of her life. She was filled with guilt about her friend Persephone and she had no moral anchor to cling to. Her mother was useless to her and her father had his own agenda. I think he may have meant well but lacked skills and fortitude to do the right thing. Noa spent her life drifting and fell back on old habits when things went all wrong. A sad character who probably felt she deserved to die because of her past.

Even Noa with no legal background saw what a sham her trial and subsequent legal battle was and decided not to have to go through it again.

It is a shame that after everything she went through during her lifetime it was only after death that positive references were made by others to her defense.

i think noa felt she didn't deserve to live. she was disgusted by her behavior after her friend's death , she was upset about her many failures ... not finishing school, her family was dysfunctional. i think she felt she deserved to be in prison even if she didn't actually murder her father's lover. it was her destiny.

I think the first sentence of the book sums up Noa's philosophy: "In this world, you are either good or evil." I think Noa thought of herself as evil after she accidentally killed Persephone and then covered it up instead of owning up to it. But in a way, I think that's a cop out. She had a choice when she was in Sarah's apartment. She was not destined to kill her as well. She could have made a different decision and turned her life around.

I totally agree with JWW

I think that No felt that this was the fate that she deserved; it was predestined. She established in the first line the two kinds of people in this world and she had tagged herself as evil. This determination was reinforced by others in her life experience. She finally wrapped herself in the cyclone of evil.

It's not entirely clear whether Noa's friend Persephone's death was accidental or not. I think Noa gave up the fight after the trial as a way of allowing herself to be punished for Persephone's death.

I think Noa gave up the fight before the trail. Life was a burden to her and she didn't value it enough to try to save it. I also agree with Janzr. I found it totally unbelieveable that Noa remembered what had happened to her and her mother's deceit when she was just 10 months old. Because of that, the whole coverup of Persephone's death didn't make one iota of sense. How could she replay the scenario created by her mother when she couldn't possibly have remembered it.

I think she had given up on life and suffered so much throughout the years because of Persephone's death. She was emotionally exhausted. Her actions after the death of Sarah were inexplicable and she was very aware of that.

I think she was just giving up. Life isn't worth living in prison, and if she lived she would have had more years of that. I do think she was mentally disturbed, maybe depressed, and she knew she killed Sarah and also it was a way of punishing herself for Persephone's death.

I think Noa was depressed and basically suicidal. She had no role models in her life to show her how to develop mental strength or faith, so she had no reserves for the bad times. She had no relationships to help her. Besides, I think being in prison would make most people depressed.