Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't love the Madeline affair storyline but I can see that it worked as making her character a little deeper and have more conflict. It also brought strength to her relationship with Abigail and actually potentially deeper with Ed.

I don't understand the lack of explanation of Bonnie's background in the series. But then I thought it sort of came out of the blue in the book.

Out of the affair storyline came 2 great Madeline revelations. When she was talking to Abigail about being perfect and how she so was not. And when she was forced to say Adam the best guy she's ever know. So it wasn't for nothing.

In my opinion both of these 'great revelations' are lazy storytelling. Something that the rest of the series did NOT suffer from. It is a lot more difficult to show complex imperfection in a sometimes-too-fiery-and-too-self-righteous character than it is to give them some easy black and white sin. Madeline wouldn't have been 'perfect' even if she hadn't cheated on Ed. She has a temper, she is a busybody, she makes enemies. She can be petty (disney on ice!). But she is loyal and loving to a fault and is sometimes consumed with jealousy and with insecurity about losing her daughter. That is a complex not perfect person.

I haven't seen the finale so I'm not sure I know what you mean with the second one. But if you mean Adam Scott as Ed then that once again is lazy storytelling. In the book you can FEEL that Madeline knows that Ed is the best thing that happened to her. The love and mutual respect they share is her anchor. They could have shown that without some big declaration.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't love the Madeline affair storyline but I can see that it worked as making her character a little deeper and have more conflict. It also brought strength to her relationship with Abigail and actually potentially deeper with Ed.

I don't understand the lack of explanation of Bonnie's background in the series. But then I thought it sort of came out of the blue in the book.

Out of the affair storyline came 2 great Madeline revelations. When she was talking to Abigail about being perfect and how she so was not. And when she was forced to say Adam the best guy she's ever know. So it wasn't for nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show but the one thing in the finale I found annoying was the staring contest between Ed and Tory/theater director. You figured out the affair, we get it. No need for 10 shots of them all staring at each other.

Plus one

I +1 this and think its super annoying that this entire plot line was added. In the book Madeline and Ed have a good relationship (there is no play and no theater director at all) and Madeline's conflict was primarily about her daughter leaving and the ex husband/bonnie. They added this because Reese Witherspoon thought the character was too sunny but I think that was the only choice the show made that was really disappointing. There was plenty there to dive into with the mother daughter relationship and there would not have been a harm in having ONE healthy and functioning romantic relationship on the show.

For real. It's certainly enough conflict that her daughter is selling her virginity on the internet, which is a big part of the book, as is Bonnies "interference" with raising Abigail.

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Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

+1 - Jane moved there for a fresh start - she had no idea that the rapist lived there. This is in the tv show and the book.

What? I didn't gather that. I assumed that was the sole reason she moved to Monterey. Hoping to come across him. Otherwise that is just too big a coincidence. Too soap operish.

It's been a while since I read the book but I believe the rape happened in a different city but she knew that her rapist lived in the area she was moving to (I forget how she knew this, though).

^nvm. I just saw that somebody already answered the question of howshe knew where her rapist lived above!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

+1 - Jane moved there for a fresh start - she had no idea that the rapist lived there. This is in the tv show and the book.

What? I didn't gather that. I assumed that was the sole reason she moved to Monterey. Hoping to come across him. Otherwise that is just too big a coincidence. Too soap operish.

It's been a while since I read the book but I believe the rape happened in a different city but she knew that her rapist lived in the area she was moving to (I forget how she knew this, though).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show but the one thing in the finale I found annoying was the staring contest between Ed and Tory/theater director. You figured out the affair, we get it. No need for 10 shots of them all staring at each other.

Plus one

I +1 this and think its super annoying that this entire plot line was added. In the book Madeline and Ed have a good relationship (there is no play and no theater director at all) and Madeline's conflict was primarily about her daughter leaving and the ex husband/bonnie. They added this because Reese Witherspoon thought the character was too sunny but I think that was the only choice the show made that was really disappointing. There was plenty there to dive into with the mother daughter relationship and there would not have been a harm in having ONE healthy and functioning romantic relationship on the show.

LOVE Madeline's wardrobe

Yeah, I didn't "get" Nathan and Bonnie's relationship in the show. He seemed like the kind of aggressive lughead she wouldn't like.

I know spousal personalities don't always match, but it seemed weird to have the hippie dippie, love the earth, self-defense instructor with an aggro old guy.

I LOVED Madeline and Celeste's wardrobes. I also loved that neither had short hair just because they were in their forties.

Also did you think Madeline really loves Ed? She certainly seems to think she isn't doing as well as her ex husband and is not attracted to Ed.

Why is Bonnie with Nathan? From what they showed in the series, Bonnie is always annoyed at or scolding Nathan. He for his part seems to love that she is young and hot and other men's envy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

In the book she admits to moving to find her rapist. Perry had a real estate brochure in the hotel room the night of the rape for the town she ends up moving to.

Thank you for posting this. I don't know how many facts from the book are supposed to be posted here, but it was driving me crazy that so many were posting emphatically that she said in the book it was a fresh start. It was very intentional. There's more in the book about what Celeste and Jane share, both about who they thought Ziggy's father was and Perry. I wont' post it here, but it added to the storyline and did make it seem less like the Scooby-Doo moment it did in the series.

Anonymous wrote:Plus in the book don't they make it clearer that Perry is Saxon Banks, that we learn he is Perry's cousin and that Perry takes that name when he meets women while traveling. Nicole Kiddman knows that Saxon Banks is a relative so it all eventually might have connected for the women naturally while talking to each other, but instead it suddenly happens at the party when Perry is killed.

Viewers of the series only were much quicker to ID Perry as Ziggy's father and that's because the book added many more layers to the story.

I didn't love the Madeline affair storyline but I can see that it worked as making her character a little deeper and have more conflict. It also brought strength to her relationship with Abigail and actually potentially deeper with Ed.

I don't understand the lack of explanation of Bonnie's background in the series. But then I thought it sort of came out of the blue in the book.

Plus in the book don't they make it clearer that Perry is Saxon Banks, that we learn he is Perry's cousin and that Perry takes that name when he meets women while traveling. Nicole Kiddman knows that Saxon Banks is a relative so it all eventually might have connected for the women naturally while talking to each other, but instead it suddenly happens at the party when Perry is killed.

The series left out a lot of great things and added weird things. Like, the Madelines affair wasn't in the book and did nothing for the plot. But they cut out WHY Bonnie pushed him and that just leaves viewers confused.

As for Perry being the rapist, sure it's a little soap operaish but it WORKS and is believable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I came to really respect Jane as the series progressed. She seemed the most level headed, the most honest, the most sincere, and an excellent mother (especially considering she had no family support and was a single mother). I felt the actress did a terrific job. She was not pretentious. She really seemed like the kind of person I would want to be friends with, even with her baggage.

That was the point of the book and the show.

I think the point was more we can all be there for each other and be friends. (Twitterverse is lit with the shots of Renata with a gentle hand on Celeste)