How does the time period lend itself to the story? If the story were set in contemporary times, how do you think it would it differ?

How does the time period in which the novel is set, the late '60s and early '70s, lend itself to the themes that appear in Cruel Beautiful World, especially in terms of love, family, and a rapidly changing era? If the story were set in contemporary times, how do you think it would it differ?

The story could not be set in contemporary times. The use of cell phones, GPS, survelance camera's, the internet and social media would all lend itself to finding Lucy. It is so much harder in current times to be lost. Also I do not think families are as close now as they were in the 60's and 70's. People didn't wander as far from home and relied on their families for most things. It was the time of free love so that was the excuse the police used. I don't think that would happen today.

I think if the story were set in current times there is no way it would have been so long before Lucy was found. We live in a world now of Amber alerts, immediate news coverage, cell phones, store surveillance, GPS and internet. William would not have been as able to hide Lucy. I also think that it would not have gone on for long that the police thought that William had jumped from the bridge, which allowed William to get away. Modern technology would have definitely changed the story if written in 2017.

I think the story would be very much the same. Regardless of all our modern technology, children go missing and are missing sometimes for years. we have examples of a young girl (Now a woman) who was kept in the shed in back of a house, and the three girls held together in a basement, all in modern times. All the technology in the world did not help them and they were not out in some rural farm area. Even today your GPS doesn't receive coverage and your cell phone doesn't get reception. And how often students run off with teachers. That is what made this book so interesting. It could be happening in the present time and right under our noses.

I think the story would have been the same, but the timeframe from Lucy's departure to being found would be much quicker. The Charles Manson influence would probably be missing from a different time period.

I think it was the perfect time period for this story. It would be a bit more difficult for William to have found another job teaching if set in a more recent time period due to background check requirements. Lucy would have had more opportunities to contact her family if set in a more recent time period due to the internet & most people owning cell phones. It probably would've been easier to track William down after Lucy's death if set in a more recent time period. It's so much more difficult to live off the grid now than it was in the 60's & 70's.

While the story fits the time period in which it was set, I don't think moving it to the present would have changed it much. While it's true that it is now harder to go "off the grid" and technology might speed up the "finding" process, we've had recent headlines regarding kidnapping of minors and students running off with teachers that take considerable time to be resolved.

I thought the time period and especially the "Manson connection" were immaterial to the story. You could excise every mention of the Manson Family and the story would be unchanged.

The time period connected with the story. Today society we not only have the advanced technology but America is slipping in family values.

I agree with most people in that it would be much more difficult for Lucy to go untraced in the age of cell phones, internet, etc.

However, I also think things would be different for William. He gave Spirit Free School a fake name when he applied. Now, schools do extensive background checks. They would have known that the name didn't have a corresponding social security number, etc. Additionally, if he had used his real name, the termination from Waltham High would have been on his employment history. Being terminated for failure to follow curriculum would be a major red flag (even to a school with a self-guided curriculum, I would think). He may have even had his teaching license suspended if the story were set in the modern age.

Aloha Rebeccak,

I think that is a valid point about the school. Sadly, the bad teachers can still slither through. All bad teachers are monsters of manipulation. This is life. We have the good and the bad.

Reference: old article but still prudent

https://www.google.com/amp/s/pulpteacher.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/bad-teachers-infallible-signs-thereof-and-how-they-hide-in-plain-sight/amp/

Being the girls' contemporary, I found the time period to lend much to the story. Without cell phones and the internet, Iris and the girls are believable. I'm not sure they would be now.

I believe the time period for this novel lends itself well to the story. Technology we have today would have made it easier not only for family to find Lucy but also for Lucy to seek help. Additionally, the time period made it much easier for William to find employment. In today's setting, he would have been subject to more scrutiny, his past would have been questioned and researched more thoroughly. While there is evidence (recent news stories) that people are often hidden in plain sight, I believe the time period of this novel made Lucy's situation easier to believe that present day might. People would question her appearance in a small town, for example.

The time period works for this story. I am roughly the age of Lucy in that time period, and I identified with many things in the novel (except, of course, I would never have run away with a teacher). As others have mentioned, though, if it took place today, William would never have been able to find jobs and Lucy would probably have been located more quickly.

In todays world they would have discovered William and Lucy. All our electronics and habits make us more traceable.

The time period was perfect bc only then could Lucy have been able to be hidden so completely. Today, there's electronic communication just about everywhere, wifi, tv, even uber- she could have gotten away as soon as she wanted to without too much trouble.

Technology aside, I didn't find the time period at all necessary to the story. I felt that the 60s references were jolting and the Manson references felt artificial to me. I didn't get the sense that Lucy was afraid of that situation except that the author kept insisting she was. I didn't really feel that was true to the story.

It fit the times because young people were running away at that time and "finding themselves". Also there wasn't as much awareness of child sexual abuse. Now there would have been more of a manhunt and trying to find Lucy, the internet, plus social media and ability to get her picture out would have made more difficult for them to hide out.

I had forgotten how the police couldn't be bothered to really search for Lucy, figuring she was just another runaway. That's definitely different from the way things are today. Thank goodness!