Fall For Anything (Pages 60 - 115): Discussion Post

Hi all!

So much for me sticking to the schedule, right? In my defense, I still have around 15 books I need to read for school by December 5th and three essays to write in the meantime. So, I'm pretty behind on everything. Anyways, lets talk FALL FOR ANYTHING!

***WARNING: Spoilers for pages 1 - 115 of FALL FOR ANYTHING***

I neglected to talk about one of the major plot points in last week discussion, because I thought it would work better here. That plot point? One Culler Evans. I don't know about you guys, but I always had a very suspicious feeling about this guy. Maybe it's cause Eddie meets him in an abandoned warehouse where her father committed suicide, or maybe it's just his demener. Either way, I was pretty wary about Culler from the start. He doesn't really do anything to warrant these suspicions though. As a matter of fact, Culler has really only helped Eddie at this point. The thing that is so attractive about Culler (for Eddie at least) is his ability to show her more of her father. Culler offers a side of her dad Eddie never really knew, and with her grief becoming all-consuming, she's clearly desperate to hold on to as much of him as she can. Not only that, she seems to have found a person just as desperate to know why as she is. What are your opinions on Culler? Do you think he's going to be a helping hand, or lead Eddie to an even darker path?

One thing we also get in this section is a different, almost indifferent reaction to Eddie's father's death. Everyone thus far has been sympathetic to Eddie, but Maggie, despite having worked with her father, doesn't seem to really care about his death. She doesn't seem very sad about it. This scene kind of offers a sort of stark reality: that life is moving forward without her father, and Eddie just can't. I don't understand how people can be so unsympathetic. Clearly Maggie cares more about the rent money than she does people, and its angering. Eddie picks up what her father left behind, and it's less than she expected. Just one lone box. The box. The mysterious, promising box. It could be filled with just about anything and Eddie has a secret hope that maybe it'll finally give her the answer to her father's suicide. But, it's just a disappointment for her. Another mystery. I think we all were, in a way, expecting some sort of clue to his death. That the box was going to finally offer why. I know I hoped it would give me an answer. Or maybe a reason. But really, it just gave Eddie more hopelessness.

Then, after Eddie's emotional breakdown, Culler kisses her. I feel reading this scene, a weird kind of dichotomy. On one hand, I see how Eddie kind of needs this. She's craving some sort of feeling besides grief. She also wants to feel that connection, to know she's not completely alone in her sadness. "This is a kiss for the dead. We miss my father too much for it to mean more" she says. At the same time, as the reader, we can see how Culler may be taking advantage of the situation. I feel like this could end in more pain for Eddie, and I really don't want her to get hurt more than she already is. How did you guys feel about the kiss?

Early in this section, we get a really important scene between Eddie and Milo. This novel really gives us a glimpse into how grief affects everything around you. Particularly, your relationships. Eddie doesn't know how to connect to Milo anymore because she can't see around her grief for more than a few minutes. And Milo doesn't seem to be able to give Eddie what she wants (his knowledge about the night her father died) and together they can't seem to move forward. They're kind of at a stand-still. But, you can see how much they care about each other. Just that they can't seem to find away to make it okay.

Then Beth comes in and angers me even more.  Sometimes, you just can't handle it. Sometimes that pain is so great you can't keep  it bottled up anymore. And Eddie snapped at her mother. She didn't mean it, and she sure as hell did not deserve to be told by Beth that "She was trying and you ruined it." Ugh, that line made me feel a bit sick. It felt like a punch in the gut. I want to shake Beth, make her see that Eddie is trying her best but it's too much for her to handle. And you know what? Her mom is an adult. Beth is an adult. Eddie isn't. She's kid who lost her father. Yes, kids are stronger than most people give them credit for but that doesn't mean they should bear the burden of grief on their own. Beth seems to act like Eddie's grief doesn't matter. That she should, in a way, just get over it. Which, in my opinion, is frankly horrible. You can't pick and choose who gets to grieve and how they handle it. Maybe this isn't Beth's intention, but she doesn't seem to want to help Eddie either. What do you guys think about Beth?

Oddly enough, I kind of feel the same irrational dislike for Missy that Eddie feels. I simply love Eddie and Milo together. They have this kind of solid, powerful friendship which I'm kind of envious of. When Missy comes along, she threatens that and Eddie reacts accordingly. She's lost so much already, she can't lose Milo too. We find out at the end of this chapter that what we thought was going on between Milo and Missy isn't really what Eddie assumed (and what Milo didn't correct). But what's worse, we find out Milo told Missy about the night of Eddie's fathers suicide. It's a pretty harsh blow to Eddie. She feels like he, in a way, betrayed her. It really breaks my heart, this last scene, especially when she says "I'm always leaving, but I never have anywhere to go."

This book is going to ruin me again, I can just tell.

What did you guys think of this section?

- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)