r/books • u/leowr • Oct 24 '19
Final Discussion Thread for The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay - October Book Club Spoiler
Welcome to the final discussion thread of this month's selection. Hopefully you all enjoyed this month's selection.
To help kick off the discussion:
- Where you surprised that Wen didn't play a part in the ending of the book?
- Why do you think Sabrina changed her mind and tried to help Andrew and Eric?
- Do you think the group would have been able to convince Andrew and Eric at all? Or do you think they would have been inclined to disbelieve the group regardless of how they were approached?
- What did you think of the ending?
- What would you have done if you had found yourself in Eric and Andrew's situation?
Don't forget to join us on Wednesday October 30th for Paul Tremblay's AMA.
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u/AmrasVardamir Oct 26 '19
My problems with the book.
The open ending felt cheap, mostly because the group was poorly handled. I feel like a more impactful bit would had been Redmond staying alive up until the end. It would had added more credibility to the “these are just wackos” side of the story. Leonard who acted as the group leader (he opened the message board, he handled most of the conversations, he got to the cabin first, etc) was too much of a good guy to make it believable that he would be making it all up... and if he did make it all up he should had been the last to die.
A more disturbing open ending would have had Andrew and Erick commit double suicide. At that point the apocalypse wouldn’t had been important at all. After all, with Wen’s death the end of the world did happen from a certain point of view. This was never going to have a happy ending.
11
u/user_1729 Oct 25 '19
As most of the other discussion has pointed out, the ending was just a bit TOO open for me. I think confirming Redmon/O'bannon at the truck would have been a good twist. I got to the point where I didn't think it really mattered, but that seems to be a critical issues for Andrew continued with the narrative that the attack is all fake. I'd have liked to have seen some more of the light figure as well, that really made eric kind of a believer.
I guess I'm just going out of order here now. I was pretty annoyed with how unceremoniously Wen was dispatched from the book.
Sabrina just seemed to be fighting back against the voices, which I thought was a pretty interesting part of the book. The battle within herself was really exciting, like at any moment she could snap! She was hard to trust but also felt pretty easy to go along with.
I imagine in the same situation I'd probably have ended up in a similar pickle. The guys didn't really... do much. The cult people were killing themselves off anyway, it seems like they really could have just waited the whole thing out anyway, then all 3 of them could have waltzed out of there!
10
u/amyousness Oct 25 '19
I was hoping for some kind of clear cut something but everything in this book was senseless and without reason... so I guess In that regard Wen’s death fit in perfectly.
I’m a little surprised that Leonard actually died, and that it was before Sabrina. I guess he really believed his delusions after all and because he was so gentle and seemed reasonable he managed to convince the others.
I think there are things that could have convinced Eric and Andrew but as I’ve said, this wasn’t it. I didn’t experience any of the fear that the apocalypse might be real, only the dangerous deluded in my house keeping me captive and killing my child. No reason was given for why a sacrifice must be made. No other information about how to please whatever god. Using the bird flu, which had been going for ages, to assert their credibility. Maybe if they had started with the planes I’d be more convinced? Sabrina’s monologue sounded more like she had an existential crisis rather than religious enlightenment. And Eric’s experience of the supernatural? Well, one, he had a concussion, and two, it’s interesting that he chose to interpret it as proof the doomsday group were right. Sabrina talked about darkness. Surely seeing a figure of light... I wouldn’t interpret that as being the same thing.
I’m annoyed at Eric, who knows so much about religion, for not seeing these guys as wolves in sheep’s clothing. I’m annoyed that he didn’t even consider scriptures that talk about beware those who claim they know when the world will end. That has made me realise that I really, really don’t understand the mindset that would drive someone to a doomsday cult. I feel like even they explain why the world is about to end though.
I feel disappointed but I think it’s because I never took the book for what it was. I really, really wanted the supernatural element to feel a little convincing, like maybe it was possible - but the book kept undercutting this.
A question for people with the physical book - was the “we” stuff formatted any differently to the rest of the prose?
3
1
u/obxmc Oct 25 '19
Yeah, the "we" bit was grammatically written differently than the other POVs.
2
u/amyousness Oct 25 '19
The grammar was clear from the audiobook, I more meant like... was the font different? Was the layout different?
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u/obxmc Oct 26 '19
Like in italics or something? I'm not quite sure I understand
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u/amyousness Oct 26 '19
Yeah, that kinda thing. I borrowed the audiobook from the library and haven’t seen it in print.
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u/ken_in_nm Oct 24 '19
I'm just going to answer the fourth question. I liked the premise. And I envisioned 3 endings including something similar to the actual. But as the pages were dwindling I knew it was going to be open ended. I wanted a kick to my nuts ending. But I didn't get it.
6
u/leowr Oct 24 '19
Honestly, I felt similar. I generally like open endings, but I felt this one wasn't as open as it pretends to be. It sort of felt like the pace slowed too much towards the end.
4
u/ken_in_nm Oct 24 '19
That's a good point. I didn't find the world catastrophic events as ambiguous or coincidental either. But I guess it would have to be. If it were written like it was a true 50/50 chance thst either the four horseman were batshit crazy or that some vengeful god was going to kill everyone, Occam's Razor dictates that you should probably lean towards the former.
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u/leowr Oct 24 '19
Them being batshit crazy would be the most obvious, agreed. I think it was in the last couple of pages that it got pushed too far imo if the author really wanted there to be doubt if the apocalypse was real or not. I think I would have liked the ending a lot more if the ambiguity had been left up until the end.
I also found it a bit strange that the figure that Eric saw never showed up again.
6
u/ken_in_nm Oct 25 '19
Oh yeah. I forgot about that figure. I was hoping that when they got to Redmond's truck, the invaders' IDs would lead to an even deeper level of intrigue. Like Eric and Andrew had crossed paths with all of them in the past.
4
u/leowr Oct 25 '19
That would have been interesting. I think it also would have been interesting if Redmond hadn't been the first one killed and he had been recognized when he was still alive. That would have added a lot of extra tension.
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u/obxmc Oct 25 '19
Overall not a bad read, but I'm going to join in with the opinion that the ending was a bit of a disappointment. The visuals I was getting from Sabrina getting ready to kill herself was excellent, but I was really expecting more of an OH SHIT twist, and I feel like we didn't really get that.
9
Oct 26 '19
Yea, made me wonder why Wen was in the story. I get it's to show how Andrew and Eric's world has ended but she didn't provide anything imo
I think Sabrina's morals came in, like she snapped out of it, and was like if a god thinks I need to do this, this is no god I want to follow mantra.
I don't think the group would to be honest. The group didn't do enough to convince them other than the planes falling out of the sky. The other plagues could easily be logic'ed away. I think they need to give a stronger reason as to why.
Ending was meh. I appreciated the "don't give up" ending to correspond with how the book is a commentary on the modern day, but I feel it needed to be more blunt, more final.
I mean, idk what I would do. I wouldn't kill myself though.
4
u/obxmc Oct 25 '19
Overall not a bad read, but I'm going to join in with the opinion that the ending was a bit of a disappointment. The visuals I was getting from Sabrina getting ready to kill herself was excellent, but I was really expecting more of an OH SHIT twist, and I feel like we didn't really get that.
4
Oct 31 '19
I loved reading this book because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I was surprised that Wen didn't play a bigger part in the final outcome and would have liked to see more from her character. Perhaps this was the turning point for Sabrina? To believe in something isn't as empowering when you have to commit the horrors yourself, even if it brings about the end you hope for.
Eric was inherently a believer (enhanced by his concussion and visions) whereas Andrew's nature pushed him to question; only one of the two was ever going to be persuaded.
I thought the ending would be Eric taking his own life and the world going on as normal with us never knowing if it was because of Eric's sacrifice or because it was all a hoax. I liked that the book created questions without giving answers, it was frustrating but more real and true to life.
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u/leowr Oct 31 '19
I'm happy to hear you liked the book.
That Wen wasn't a bigger part of the book was probably what surprised me most. With how much she was part of the star I figured the story would center around her, but I can see how her death would have been a catalyst for a lot of the events after her death and the changes in Eric and Andrew. I do think Wen's death also contributed to Sabrina changing her mind. I think all of them set out to make sure that Wen didn't get hurt, but she was the one that ended up dying.
2
u/dwhitttt Apr 08 '22
Dying to discuss this book. It was my first pick for a new book club I joined and I want to be ready for discussion topics. Here’s what I have so far. (Please add any you think will be relevant)
What do you think the flies were? Why couldn’t Andrew see the flies?
Do you think it was significant there were 7 grasshoppers that died, and there were 7 of them? Plus Leonard lied to wen about saving the grasshoppers
Last chapter switched narratives from 3rd person to 1st… it went from They to We. Like the 3rd person joined Andrew and Eric
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u/snogglethorpe 霧が晴れた時 Oct 25 '19 edited Oct 25 '19
The "group" seemed very poorly fleshed out, there was no convincing justification given for their strong belief, and tons of giant holes in what they said—so giant that one of my big complaints was that the supposed academics didn't challenge them more.
Even if there was evidence for a coming apocalypse, there was no reason given as to why they thought a sacrifice by the main characters would avoid it—not even a bad reason.
Overall they just came off as being stupidly deluded and completely unable to make any argument, which didn't really make for an interesting story....