Ash and Kieran have grown into quite different men. Why do you think this is?

Ash and Kieran were once very close, but have grown into quite different men. Why do you think this is? How have their experiences differed, and what effect have these experiences had on them?

Kieran has benefited from therapy, a woman and baby he loves and an outlet, swimming in the open water. All of this helps him manage guilt and grief. Ash has his gardens but still is stuck in the past.

I see Kieran as more proactive as moving purposely through life where Ash and many others in Evelyn Bay are "treading water" staying much the same. I agree with Patty that he has benefitted from therapy and from his partner and child.

I agree with paulak and patty - Kieran has definitely grown and matured while Ash has remained emotionally stagnant or stunted. I attribute this, at least in part, to Ash staying in Evelyn Bay and holding on to his attachments -both physically and mentally - in the community. Kieran, on the other hand, has left Evelyn Bay - both physically and emotionally - and has moved on with his life. This isn't to say Kieran doesn't have emotional issues tied to his life, family and experiences in Evelyn Bay, but with the support of his wife, and having a new baby, he's been able to deal with his issues, close one chapter and open another one with his new family.

In addition to the above reasons, I think Kieran grew to be so different from Ash due to his education and travel. First, Kieran chose to complete his high school education. He then went on to university far from Evelyn Bay. I don't think he was smarter than Ash--he was just exposed to a broader range of ideas and new ways of thinking because of his formal education. By leaving Evelyn Bay, Kieran met a more diverse set of people from all over and had opportunities that were not available in a small community like Evelyn Bay. This caused a change in his own thinking and how he viewed the world. He was able to grow away from his 18 year old self in ways that Ash could not.

I have to agree with all the previous comments. Ash never matured mostly because he didn’t keep growing and expanding his outlook on life. He certainly behaved in a childish manner regarding George’s tearing up the garden of Wetherby house which had belonged to Ash’s grandmother. Kieran chose a more sophisticated life path, not necessarily better, because I think Ash really loved what he did, but more fulfilling. He had an education. The responsibility of a women and child he loved and he did it away from Evelyn Bay.

Kieran's was born and raised in a settled, two-parent home and even after leaving the small community of Evelyn Bay to move to Sydney, he continued his education, married and started a family, and found satisfying physical therapy work that allowed him to provide for his family. Ash, who lived in Evelyn Bay initially as a summer visitor, came to it full time at age fifteen as the son of a single parent. He dropped out of school as soon as he was able, and his interest in landscaping in and around the small community became not only his passion but his source of income. While it may seem that Kiernan's world expanded and Ash's remained static, I am not sure I agree completely that they are quite different men. Both grew within their own environment, and as the novel concludes, both seem headed to positive futures. Ash has fallen in love, and even if Olivia does not remain with him, he may choose to follow her or to find someone else to care for. The important point is that he has fallen in love and knows, just as Kiernan does, exactly what that means and requires. And while he seems to struggle throughout much of the novel with George and the garden, in the end he reveals that he has grown from that situation, and this can only mean a more positive outcome personally and financially for him. Just because one lives in a large metropolis and one in a small sea-side community and one is formally educated and one is not, I do not think their values are so very different, and that is ultimately what defines them.

Ash and Kieran had similar backgrounds but Kieran has had major changes in his life that caused him to grow as a person. His guilt about the accident that killed Finn and Toby and the subsequent grief his parents went through could have destroyed him. Instead, he left Evelyn Bay and worked with a therapist to begin healing. The introspection he gained from that made him a stronger person and made him appealing to Mia. She tells him later that if they had met when they were younger she would not have been attracted to him. After Audrey was born Kieran started to understand the depth of his parents' grief over losing Finn. Ash on the other hand, does not seem to have moved on much from his younger days. I think he cares for Olivia but I don't sense a deep connection and he shows no signs of introspection at all.

I think the best reason that Kieran grew differently was because he physically left the town and his parents who he knew blamed him for the accident, however unfairly. He was just a young teen and teens do things without thinking, as we saw. But the pressure of that guilt sent him away. Ash never really grew up.

Decisions they made as life moved forward. When people leave their hometowns or the locale of a tragedy, they gain perspective & grow. Travel opens ones eyes. Ash never left and was unable to see the situation differently.

Kieran moved away and moved on. Ash is still stuck in the same town he grew up in. I think it's as simple as that.

Different paths in life. Kiernan left town, Keirnan married and had children, his life settled down. As on the other hand Ash never married, had no children and stayed in the same town he was raised in.