EPBOT Readers discussion

This is the topic for sections 5&6. There were be another post for overall book thoughts. Some questions are mine, some are from the official reading guide.

During the course of Addie and Henry's relationship, how does her curse affect her interaction with his life? How do you think that would work on a longer time scale? Do you think Henry's anger at her thieving to live is fair?

Discuss the intense power struggle between Addie and Luc. What makes him such a master of seduction? How does Addie reclaim her power and agency over the course of the centuries?

What do you see as Luc's real intentions towards Addie are? Do you believe there is real feeling?

How did you react when you found the price of Henry's deal? Did it surprise you?

How did you react to the novel’s ending? What had you been predicting for Addie?

Any other thoughts on this section?

Henry has to learn the routines and motions of her curse in society. I suspect it could work on a longer time frame, although it is a significant burden on Henry as go-between. I suppose I'm romantic enough to believe it is a price worth paying, particularly since he reaps the benefits of being seen as he truly is by Addie. His anger struck me as a little strange, considering his background.

Luc is Staypuft, assuming the form the person holds in their mind. I suppose that adds a seductive element all its own. And a good "salesman" has to have an appealing pitch to conclude any deal. Over the years, Addie comes to understand the fine print and the loopholes in her contract with him, and hatred is a powerful motivator to exploit any perceived weakness.

Perhaps gods get lonely too, but I doubt Luc is able to feel anything we would understand as love for Addie. His intentions do shift slightly, from wanting to break her (which he cannot do) to wanting to possess her (since he cannot break her). Like a human, he wants what he cannot have.

I thought Henry literally sold himself short, but I suppose anyone with suicidal thoughts would.

I'm still on the fence about the ending. Maybe I want a sequel? Maybe I just want clearer resolution? But it certainly wasn't enough to tarnish my overall impression of the book.

I think it would have been rough dealing with Addie's curse over a longer time. Henry's friends already accuse him of hiding her, and it would only get worse. I guess no one could get mad at him if he still had his own curse, but it would still be annoying dealing with the comments, both when she was absent and everyone thought it was a "my girlfriend from a different school" situation, and every time he had to introduce her for the "first time" after they'd been together year or whatever. Also, over the even longer term, I think it would be hard for him to be aging while she didn't.

As far as seduction, I mean, the physical form that is most appealing to you, plus the power to give you lavish gifts, feasts, basically anything you want - what's not sexy about that? It's a fairly common theme in literature, the seductive power of evil. It's even possible that someone who may have resembled me in my youth might once have written a poem depicting an encounter between the said poet and a half-demon boy, and maybe sketched a li'l pointy-eared face on the page despite not being much of an artist generally. That is a thing that certainly could have happened.

I think Addie is correct that Luc can't really love her. If he were interested in love with a (basically) human person, he could easily have that. He's capable of appearing in the world and interacting with people, so I don't see why he couldn't have a conventional love affair, what with the aforementioned attractions and all. I guess maybe he would want someone similarly immortal, but if he did find true love, he could just do the trade-your-soul thing and immortalize his lover, no? So I don't know if he thinks he's in love, or if not why he agreed to the new deal, but I don't believe that love is really what he wants.

I wasn't that surprised by Henry's deal. He'd had a pretty bleak time of it up to that point, with an unsupportive family and what sure sounds like depression or some sort of mental illness. There was no suggestion that he had tried therapy or legally prescribed medication; it would ruin the story, of course, but someone really should've tried to help him access mental health treatment instead of just throwing drugs at him. (Maybe they did and he wasn't willing, but there's no indication of that.)

At the end of the previous section, I'd thought maybe there would be a semantic loophole in Henry's curse, like if Luc had said "a lifetime" and then was like "haha your life is this watch," but hadn't specified Henry's lifetime in the deal, Addie could be like, "My lifetime is forever, so hah!" Obviously that didn't happen, but there was a different semantic loophole, so I felt slightly vindicated. After we learned the actual terms of Henry's deal, I did consider that Addie would sacrifice herself for him, but I couldn't figure out how that would work, since they've each only got one soul. I'm still not quite sure what the new deal entails; she was already Luc's in many respects, so I guess she's just going to hang out with him more? Be nice?
I found the part about Henry's book a little weird. The whole "and that's the book you're reading now!" trope is reasonably common, and I like it all right, but this was just... not quite that? Like, the actual author's name is on the cover, and of course there's another chapter from Addie's perspective, so we're not actually reading Henry's book, just one that is incredibly similar. Revised 2nd edition, published under Addie's pen name after she breaks the curse?

"Luc is Staypuft" and "My Girlfriend from a different school" are my favorite things that I have read about this book, so thank you, Daniele and Rebecca. :)

I agree with Rebecca that the situation with Henry's friends would have gotten tiresome quickly if he and Addie were together for a longer period of time. And I definitely took Henry's anger as more touchiness about curse-related behavior than genuine outrage - it would have been a bit disproportionate to the situation otherwise.

The shift in the power dynamic between Addie and Luc came from Addie realizing that all of it is just a long, elaborate game to Luc and starting to play accordingly. I think he enjoys having someone around long enough to truly play with/against, and his intention is to keep that going as long as possible. I don't know that he's capable of "real feeling" in the way that you probably mean it - and by the end of the book, I'm not sure that Addie is, either, which make them more evenly matched.

I wasn't terribly surprised by Henry's deal - I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more to it, but it was definitely consistent with where things seemed to be going.

The ending of the book was the beginning of a story that would have been more interesting to me - I enjoy the strategy of that kind of dynamic much more than the kind of struggling with societal expectations and the feelings the characters are supposed to have that this book was more about.

And I'm with Rebecca about the "that's the book you're reading now" thing not really working for me. I've seen that done cleverly elsewhere, and maybe if Henry's deal had been specifically about him wanting to write a bestselling novel it might have fit better - but it seemed kind of random here.

i was quite surprised at how long Henry's deal was for... but then it all made sense. i had no idea what was to come though - the ending took me by surprise as it all unraveled...