Do you think any of the four siblings are content with the paths their lives has taken?

Later in the book, the four siblings are portrayed as adults. Do you think any of them are happy or content with the paths their lives have taken?

I am not sure that any of the siblings were content with the paths their lives had taken. Each sister struggled in her own way to find herself, as did Peter. I think that might be an important part of the story- one sister tried to find love, one sister tried to find acceptance through a career and Peter was trying to figure out who he was, just like his sisters, but in his own way. Each member of the family struggled with an identity question, but in the end they were together and they had each other.

No, unfortunately not. However, I am not sure that all of us are totally content with the path we have chosen .... and isn't that the way life is supposed to be? I think the beauty of life is to be constantly learning and changing. I think age brings you contentment with choices you have made.

I think that as the book ends all four siblings are still struggling to find the right path. But I think this is true of all people, how often do we hear someone say "I wonder what I'll be when I grow up" and they are well into their fifties. That is part of living and growing. Peter will find many different forks in his road and hopefully will find happiness.

I believe they are working toward contentment. Each is open to new opportunities and it appears that they will help each other rather than hold each other back.

As the books ends, none are content, that we are aware of. Peter/Audrey has the most potential to become content in my opinion. Coming from birth he was never content physically with his body, nor emotionally, so really had no where to go but up. He had thus, set his "bar" pretty low, so his potential was huge at the end. The others, we only received broken glimpses of them, but I would have to say that no, none were content, and I was given no other information to think otherwise.

No. Each one is disappointed in her chosen path. Yet, none appear to give up, and as they reestablish their ties to each other, there is a sense of hopefulness about the future.

Mostly, no... but I think each WAS content to be making their own path and to not be near their parents. It seemed to be important to each of them to escape their father and to be on their own. I'm not sure what any of them would have done differently!

The siblings don't seem content but mom seemed content close to the end. She didn't have to deal with her husband any longer and could live her life for herself. The children seem to have the capacity to reach contentment sooner in their lives than mom did.

Maybe they think they are, but I did not get a sense that any of them were happy.

No but I think they are hopefully & have some happiness as they believe they can NOW finally begin to find themselves. Father is dead; mom is learning to live; each sister has survived; Peter has embraced Audrey at least we are giving that impression. The toast " we're sisters" at the end with the waiter commenting on them looking so much alike seems hopeful.

I agree with marganna - none of them seemed very content until the end of the book, but the ending made me think that they were each - perhaps - on the road to happiness.

I believe they were still trying to figure themselves out. By the end of the book seems they were grasping their true essence closer to happiness.

Everybody seemed to have a dysfunctional life, at least to some extent. I think they would change some of the choices they made if they could.

This is a tough question to answer. We never know why Helen called her mother and said that she had done something bad. Are we to assume through the last paragraph that she left her teaching position at George Washington to be with her sisters in Germany? We know that Bonnie gave up stripping because of her age. We know that Adele wandered from nanny job to nanny job. We know that Peter became Audrey in Germany.Their love for Peter most likely brought them together in Germany, but their dysfunctional backgrounds and family life most likely did not keep them together or help them to find happiness.

I think they came to terms with where their life's evolved, but content is a stretch. They were portrayed as an extremely dysfunctional family and that is difficult to overcome.

No. But I feel hopeful that with all of them together supporting each other things will be easier for each other. But only one speaks German! That is going to be a stressor. I am very happy for Peter and feel he will be doing the best at changing his life.