The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

Hi everyone - This is the discussion thread for The Thirteenth Tale, which was voted as our BOTM for March.



Synopsis:
Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise — she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story.

Both women will have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets... and the ghosts that haunt them still.

I read this about a year ago. It quickly became a favorite.A well written Gothic. Looking forward to hearing what others think.

I love this book so much! The BBC adaptation was also pretty good in my opinion (:

I'm so happy there are discussions since I can't talk to anyone else about it. So I'm depending on all of you since no one else has read or will take my advice and read it! lol

Which is too bad because its a good story /:

I just read this a few days ago (right before the poll started of course). It's such a lovely book and also a favorite of mine.

I read it a few years ago. I really liked it.

This is been something I've been dying to know:

Am I the only one who sensed an incestuous undertone in the Adeline (Vida)/Emmeline relationship?

I understand it could also be a very intense, unhealthy, co-dependent sisterly relationship, but I felt it was more than that. If you look closely enough, its there. I guess it depends on how you interpret certain things Vida says and how she tells her story, but I feel that she loved Emmeline as a little more than a sister.

Anyone want to share their thoughts?

Viktorija wrote: "This is been something I've been dying to know:

Am I the only one who sensed an incestuous undertone in the Adeline (Vida)/Emmeline relationship?

I understand it could also be a very intense, un..."



I also sensed this incestuous tone as well. The weaving of the story in the beginning of the book hid it well, but as things unfold, and keeping in mind that Charlie and Isabelle had what was all but called an incestuous relationship, I think it is safe to infer that these two girls did as well.

I rather enjoyed the story, and having brothers who are twins, and my grandma/aunt grandma (as i came to call her) were identical twins, I enjoyed seeing the twin language and other elements of twin-ship being accurately portrayed.

I give it 4.5 stars overall

I am an identical twin, and I have a hard time with the notion that twins could be so radically different in character. My sister and I have slightly different personalities, she being more extroverted than I, but in terms of character, we are truly identical.

It's been about a year since I read this, and to be fair, I don't typically like twin stories because so often one of them is evil. I believe my sister feels the same way.

I am an identical twin, and I have a hard time with the notion that twins could be so radically different in character. My sister and I have slightly different personalities, she being more extroverted than I, but in terms of character, we are truly identical.

It's been about a year since I read this, and to be fair, I don't typically like twin stories because so often one of them is evil. I believe my sister feels the same way.

puppitypup wrote: "I am an identical twin, and I have a hard time with the notion that twins could be so radically different in character. My sister and I have slightly different personalities, she being more extrov..."

Well you have to remember that the twins were born out of sibling incest.

Keep in mind that incest doesn't "cause" birth defects, it just increases the likelihood of a child getting a double-dose of one or more recessive genetic problems. In the twins case their parents, Charlie and Isabelle, were blood related, a little feral, and both pretty fucked up in the head, so they were bound to get the short end of the stick no matter what.

First degree relatives, such as Charlie and Isabelle, are the individuals you share 50 percent of your genes with — your parents, children, and siblings(close relatives). The problem with having sex with close relatives is that there is a very high chance that your offspring will be born with a serious birth defect.

40 percent of these children are born with either autosomal recessive disorders, congenital physical malformations, or severe intellectual deficits (Adeline and Emmeline). And another 14 percent of them had mild mental disabilities (although I wouldn't exactly call Adeline's case 'mild').

In short, the odds that a newborn child who is the product of brother-sister or father-daughter incest will suffer an early death, a severe birth defect or some mental deficiency approaches 50 percent.

A lot of genetic problems are both recessive and extremely rare. This means that a lot of us carry these genetic problems, and pass them on to our children, but they don't show up as symptoms because they are recessive, and so there is almost always a second dominant allele that doesn't allow the genetic problem to affect the child.

But in the case of incest, the likelihood is higher that *both* parents have the same recessive genetic problems (CHARLIE AND ISABELLE)... and thus they will affect the child/children.

...so yeah I probably could have just left you with that first sentence but I felt that I needed to explain.

I just started reading it. I am really really curious :)

This is such a great book. I really enjoyed reading this. It was sitting on my shelf, so I'm happy it got picked for the group read so i could finally bring myself to read it.

One of my new favourites, this book has wonderful descriptions of literature! The story is engaging, and the twist at the end threw me off for sure. No way I would have guessed that. ;)

This was an awesome read. I recommend this one all the time. I just finished Setterfield's novel "Once Upon a River," and it was really good too.