A Guest in the House A Guest in the House question


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Let's talk about the Ending.
Gonah Hawking Gonah (last edited Jul 28, 2023 12:06PM ) Jul 28, 2023 11:43AM
This book was so interesting, and I want to talk about the ending NOW instead of waiting for deconstructions in a little less than a month.

This thread WILL have spoilers, so be warned about reading it before reading the book.

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I think the hardest thing to parse in all of this is who is lying, who is telling the truth, and when, because David gaslights Abby a couple different times in the story, and we learn we can't always trust outside sources either so... yeah, I want to see all the theories, the breakdowns, and the details!



I lean more towards your second theory: (view spoiler) I'm still pondering Carroll's ambiguous ending, as I'm sure was her intention.


I saw a reddit post that compared A Guest in the House to The Yellow Wallpaper and I found that really compelling. We're unsure if Abby is losing her grip on reality or if she's really seeing Sheila's ghost and being gaslit by David (or perhaps a combination of the two).

What I still don't understand is Beth. Is she Sheila? Is Sheila really dead? I'd love to hear what others think about Beth and the book's ending.


Sorry to revive a year-old discussion, but I love your theories - my understanding is it's a combination of all of them: (view spoiler)

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Jane Lively I love this one, how you blend them all! It makes the most sense to me, having just finished the book and being curious about the ending myself 😅
Dec 11, 2024 07:28PM · flag

Hi all! I think we have largely solved the mystery through a patchwork quilt of theories. I'm going to give my opinion based on the bits and pieces others have mentioned.

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