INTRODUCTION BY PAUL HOCHMAN
I first met Louise in 2006 while working at BarnesAndNoble.com. We had a fabulous lunch at a Greek restaurant in New York City to celebrate the publication of STILL LIFE. She signed my copy of the book as follows:
“For Paul, such fun undermining St. Martin’s together”
Little did we both know that just four years later I’d join St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and, together with Louise and the wonderful “Team Penny”, we’d undermine the publishing status quo and rocket Louise’s books to the top of the Bestseller Lists!
Gamache Series.com, the website you are now reading, and the Re-Reads initiative was originally conceived to promote THE LONG WAY HOME so to say I have a certain connection to this book (and all of Louise’s novels really!) is to say the least! This website – a community really – with an enormous amount of content and connections was built on the back of THE LONG WAY HOME.
The really unique thing about THE LONG WAY HOME Re-Read is that it was led by readers just like you, in real time, at the point of publication. Now – I doubt it – but if you haven’t read the book yet, beware, spoilers lie ahead!
RECAP
The Re-Reads initiative was initially launched in the lead-up to the publication of The Long Way Home. After the book was published, readers came together once a week on GamacheSeries.com to discuss the book, ten chapters at a time. What you’ll read below includes many of the insights from those readers.
Ch. 1-10: From the opening chapters, readers point out that this book is very different from previous books in the series. After all, How the Light Gets In ends with what feels like a natural conclusion: the internal struggles within the Sûreté du Québec are resolved, Jean-Guy gets the help he needs and marries Annie Gamache, and Armand and Reine-Marie retire to Three Pines.
The Long Way Home opens on the bench in the Three Pines village green. Armand has been sitting at the bench every morning, holding a book – The Balm of Gilead – but not reading it. Clara has taken to joining him. As they sit, Clara wonders why Armand never seems to read his book. Armand wonders if Clara has been sitting with him because she pities him – or because she needs something.
After some time, Clara tells Armand what she’s been struggling with: the year before, she and her husband Peter, also a painter, had separated. Before he left, they made an agreement that they would have no contact during their year apart, but on the first anniversary of his leaving, he’d return to discuss their relationship. But it’s been a few weeks since that day, and Peter still hasn’t come back. Clara is worried.
The neighbors gather for dinner, and Armand tells Jean Guy – who still can’t bring himself to call his new father-in-law anything other than patron – about Clara’s concerns. When Clara finds out, she’s furious at Armand: a fury that readers found frustrating and disrespectful. But Gamache, thinking Clara might not want his help after all, is relieved.
But she does need his help. When Gamache asks Clara why Peter left, she tells him that he was always supportive of Clara when she was struggling, but wasn’t supportive of her after her success. As Clara’s career took off, Peter’s plateaued.
First, Gamache pays a visit to Peter’s mother, Irene – a cold woman – and her husband, Bert Finney – a kind man. The couple has art all over their walls, paintings from the finest Canadian painters, but none by either Peter nor Clara. Neither have heard from Peter recently.
Doing their due diligence, Gamache and Jean-Guy check Peter’s credit card records, and find that he’s traveled all over the world – Venice, Paris – in the year he’s been gone. One place in particular stands out as unusual: Dumfries, Scotland. But the records also show that he returned to Quebec City recently, just four months ago.
Clara and Myrna travel to Toronto to speak face-to-face with Peter’s siblings: his brother Thomas, and his sister Marianna. Neither have heard from him either.
And Clara meets with Peter’s siblings to see if they know anything about Peter’s whereabouts. At his sister Marianna’s, we encounter Bean: Marianna’s child. Born out of wedlock, Bean’s gender identity is a mystery that Marianna refuses to share with her family, out of spite – though the readers in the comments speculate that Bean is a girl.
Ch. 11-20:
Clara and Myrna visit the Ontario College of Canadian Arts, where Clara and Peter went to school. They meet with the charismatic Professor Massey, who tells them Peter was recently there, but that he doesn’t know where he went after he visited.
Here, we learn more about Clara’s time at OCCA: she spent most of her student years as a bit of a reject – her art was shown in Professor Norman’s Salon des Refusés – until Peter, who was more conventionally talented and popular, noticed her.
Gamache and Jean-Guy go visit Dr. Vincent Gilbert in the forest to ask him about Paris. Later, in the Garden with Reine-Marie, Clara, Jean-Guy, and Myrna, Armand says he thinks Gilbert and Peter were drawn to the same place in Paris: LaPorte. The Door. A community created by a priest to serve children and adults with Down’s syndrome. Vincent Gilbert volunteered there, hoping to find himself, and the theory is that Peter did too.
In these chapters, commenters point out, a new side of Peter begins to emerge. Clara realizes that the paintings on Bean’s wall weren’t Bean’s, but Peter’s first attempts at painting something with feeling. “Peter Morrow took no risks,” Louise writes. “He neither failed nor succeeded. There were no valleys, but neither were there mountains. Peter’s landscape was flat. An endless, predictable desert.” Perhaps all of Peter’s wanderings were his attempts to find himself.
Marianne sends the paintings to Clara. Commenters point out that Clara feels a twinge of jealousy, looking at them. Where Peter used to only paint with muted colors, the new paintings were bright and colorful. Suppose they weren’t abstract, Gamache wonders? Suppose Peter was painting what he saw?
The Dumfries, Scotland question is still outstanding. Gamache calls the Police Constable in Dumfries to ask if there are any artist colonies there. Constable Stuart couldn’t think of any artist colonies, but did say they had gardens. Gamache sends him a picture of Peter’s painting, and Stuart recognizes it: he had painted The Garden of Cosmic Speculation.
Later, Constable Stuart asks around town about the garden. An old man, Alphonse, tells him about a time he went to shoot hares there. He sees a large hare, who stares at him, unmoving. And then behind that one, he notices 20 others. And then notices one turn to stone in front of his eyes. Back in Canada, Armand notices a circle of stones in the photos – a stone circle not visible on the garden’s official website. One commenter pointed out that the garden reminded her of Peter, straight lines and geometric shapes, but with a little magic thrown in.
Ch. 21-30:
Peter’s paintings continue to reveal new meanings. Clara and Armand look at one of the paintings in a new perspective, and see an image that they recognize: The St. Lawrence River.
They travel to Baie-Saint-Paul, a tourist destination near Charlevoix, where a meteor had hit millions of years before, creating a natural ecosystem unlike anywhere else in the world. Readers point out that just like the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, this is another “cosmic” location. Is there a reason Peter was drawn to both?
There, they split up to visit galleries, but no one had seen Peter. In their search, they meet a man named Marcel Chartrand, who runs the Galerie Gagnon, showcasing the works of Clarence Gagnon (you may recognize one of Gagnon’s paintings from the cover of The Long Way Home!) He introduces himself and offers them a place to stay, since all of the hotels were full. He knows Peter: Peter had spent many hours in the gallery back in April, and had ended up renting a cabin down the road. But he left before the summer, and Marcel does not know where he went.
However, Chartrand gives Gamache another clue towards Peter’s whereabouts: Peter had asked after No Man, someone who ran an artist’s colony in the woods. Was it No Man – or Norman? Could it be the same cruel Professor Norman who set up the Salon des Refusés at OCCA?
To find out more, Reine-Marie and Ruth go visit Professor Massey – who seems quite taken with Ruth – to ask him about Professor Norman. Massey says that Norman believed in the tenth muse: that there was a muse for art. Massey says Norman was eventually fired for being insane, and for creating the Salon des Refusés, a gallery for failures.
Massey doesn’t have any photos of Norman – in the yearbook, instead of portraits of the professors, students chose to feature a piece of each teacher’s art. The self-portrait by Professor Norman was wild, a portrait of insanity, and the signature on the art did not say Norman, but No Man. Had the pursuit of the tenth muse turned Norman mad?
Back in Baie-Saint-Paul, the group is unsure whether they can trust Chartrand. How connected to No Man’s artist colony was he really? Was he a former member, returned to Baie-Saint-Paul after the colony folded? Or how about the owner of La Muse, a brasserie in town – was he a former member? Jean-Guy asks around and finds out the man’s name is Luc Vachon, and that he did, in fact, live at No Man’s colony for a few years.
In these chapters, commenters point out that it’s not just Peter’s personal journey we are watching in this novel. We’re also seeing huge changes in Jean-Guy, too – in his calmness in sobriety, and in his acceptance of the villagers he used to disdain.
Although Clara is officially in charge of this investigation, Gamache goes to the police station, where the agents recognize him from the previous year. There, he meets Agent Morriseau, who tells him that No Man’s colony was a cult. Quietly, Gamache asks the agents to arrange for sniffer dogs, to check the area for any bodies.
And then Chartrand asks them if they’d like to stay at his home that night – not his apartment above the gallery, but his remote home in the woods. Clara says yes.
Ch. 31-end:
At Chartrand’s home, the villagers continue to inquire about No Man. Was he simply the leader of a commune – or was it a cult? Chartrand says he lectured there. Was he invited in, as an outsider – or was he already there, as a member?
Jean-Guy finds out where the owner of La Muse goes to paint: a remote village called Tabaquen, which means “sorcerer.” The only way in and out of Tabaquen is by boat or plane, so the villagers purchase tickets to fly, and at the last minute, Chartrand buys a ticket to join them.
The plane ride is harrowing, and the pilot points out that artists typically arrive by boat – but that neither option is a smooth ride. They show the pilot a photo from the art school yearbook, of Peter and Professor Massey, and ask him if he’s seen Peter. He says yes.
Clara then asks the pilot to land in Sept-Îles. She wants to retrace Peter’s steps as he would have done it, by boat. Jean-Guy wants to get to Tabaquen as quickly as possible, and is sick of following Clara’s lead. Gamache reminds him that they’re here to support Clara, nothing more.
On the ship, the Loup de Mer, there are two cabins. Thinking it would be the bigger cabin, the men take the Admiral’s Suite, which is barely big enough to fit the three of them. Gamache asks the porter about Peter, and the porter says he recognizes him. That he watched him closely on his journey, to be sure he didn’t jump from the deck. Meanwhile, the Captain’s Suite, where the women are staying, is luxurious.
Gamache recalls something from the flight: when the young pilot said he recognized the man in the photo he showed him, it wasn’t Peter he recognized. It was Massey who he’d flown to Tabaquen the day before.
The sniffer dogs found something suspicious, a substance buried in a container: it was asbestos, found along with the canvases. Whoever would have handled the canvases would likely die, eventually, from inhaling asbestos. The principal of the college confirms that asbestos was detected in Professor Massey’s office. Had Norman sent his asbestos-infected paintings to Massey in an attempt to slowly kill him?
After traveling through tumultuous waters, the river eventually flattens to glass and they arrive in Tabaquen. Clara stays in town – unsure of what they’d find – and Gamache and Jean-Guy head to No Man’s cabin. There, they find Peter sitting on the porch, looking unkempt. And inside the cabin, they find a body: Professor Norman. Peter says that Norman had sent him away, and when he returned he had found him dead. Luc, from the brasserie, had been there too – but Peter had sent him to call for help.
Here, Gamache realizes that he had everything backwards: it wasn’t Norman adding asbestos to his painting to harm Massey, but the other way around. Massey had been sending him asbestos-infected canvases for years, because Norman was a threat.
And here, Peter asks Gamache if Clara had seen his new paintings, and what she thought about them. He has changed: her opinion is all he cares about now. Peter tells Gamache that he wanted to return home to her, but before he could face her, he wanted to confront Professor Norman for what he’d done to her back in school. But when he arrived, the old professor was sick, and Peter stayed on to care for him.
“The tenth muse is not, I think about becoming a better artist, but becoming a better person,” Gamache tells Peter.
But meanwhile, there’s the issue of the dead professor. Thinking the killer would be Luc, the group heads back to town. But in town, they find Massey, holding a knife to Clara’s throat. “I love you, Clara,” Peter says, as he takes the knife for her.
Commenters seem to agree that by the end, Peter had become a brave man in a brave country – a man finally worthy of Clara’s love.
FAVORITE QUOTE
“Fear lives in the head. And courage lives in the heart. The job is to get from one to the other.”
CONCLUSION
What an amazing journey revisiting my friends from Three Pines in the pages of THE LONG WAY HOME. I can’t believe it’s been eight years since the book was published (and this website was launched!) and almost twelve years since I started working with Louise!
The activist and journalist, Ella Winter, once said, “Don’t you know you can’t go home again?” Thomas Wolfe would then use the quote to entitle his posthumously released novel YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN.
I, however, in the spirit of Ruth Zardo call bullshit!
Of course you can go home again. Even if it’s a long way home. We, as readers and lovers of the World of Louise Penny, are fortunate enough to go home to Three Pines every year!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Clara first approaches Gamache with great ambivalence: wanting (though fearing) to
know what happened to Peter, while reluctant to disturb Gamache’s newfound peace.
How did you feel about the decisions they both make at this point?
- “I thought he’d come home,” Clara says of Peter. Did you? How did your view of him
change in the course of the book?
- What does it mean to you to be a “brave man in a brave country”? How does courage—or
cowardice—feature in this novel?
- On the first page of the book, we hear about Armand Gamache’s repeated gesture, “so
tiny, so insignificant.” What is the true significance of this and other seemingly
inconsequential actions in this story?
- What do you think of Ruth’s role in this story? For example, consider the scene in
Massey’s studio, where she “seemed to have lost her mind. But found, Reine Marie
thought, her heart.”
- Both Peter and Gamache’s father, in a sense, disappear. What is the impact of this kind of
loss on Clara and Gamache? Have you ever experienced anything similar in your own
life?
- There is so much about art and the creative process in this book. How do we see that
unfold in the lives not only of Clara and Peter, but also of Norman and Massey? For example, what do you make of the Salon des Refusés? What do you think it meant to the
artists themselves?
- What roles do creativity and acclaim (or obscurity) play in the lives of both Clara and
Peter? In their marriage? Do you believe that Clara and Peter’s marriage could have been
saved?
- Louise has sometimes talked about the importance of chiaroscuro — the play of light and
shadow — in her work. What are the darkest and the lightest points in this novel? What
are some humorous moments, and how did you respond to them?
- Peter’s paintings look completely different from different perspectives. How does that
apply to other characters or events in the story?
- In Chapter Six, Myrna observes about jealousy: “It’s like drinking acid, and expecting the other person to die.” How does jealousy play out in the lives of various characters here?
What effects have you seen it have in real life?
- How does Clara’s quote from one of her favorite movies, “Sometimes the magic works,”
play out in the story?
- While a number of Louise’s books end in unexpected ways, the conclusion of this one is
particularly shocking. How did you feel as you were reading it, and what do you think
when you look back at it now?
- In some ways Clara’s quest to find Peter recalls such classic journeys as The Odyssey and
The Heart of Darkness. What are the most significant discoveries the central figures in this novel make along the way?
1,022 replies on “Series Re-Read: The Long Way Home”
I was fortunate to see Louise Penny at the Toronto Public Library and had the pleasure of speaking with her while she autographed my book.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was disappointed when I was finished. I always feel like I am right there with the characters and what an adventure it is.
There is nothing I would have changed. And look forward to Ms. Penny’s 11th book.
I loved this book. I was almost afraid to start reading because I had a hard time imagining how Gamache was going to carry on after the last book. When I saw that it was about Clara and Peter I was content because I had wanted closure on that situation. Although this book doesn’t have the intensity of the last book, I found myself unable to stop reading until I finished. My thought on the moth was that Reine Marie saw her husband in the moth. He is being drawn into something that he might not be ready for but can’t help himself. Physically and emotionally he isn’t fully healed and Reine Marie wants him to be out of harms way. Just like the moth, she will do her best to keep him safe and protect him from himself if need be.
Regarding Clara being rude, I think that she has had over a year to see herself in a new light and to want to try out her new person with what would be her greatest challenge- Peter. I think that she has wrapped herself in this new stronger Clara and any weakness on her part will pull her right back into the old self. She needs to be in control internally and externally to see the search through to the end.
Can’t wait to be able to talk about the later chapters. I found myself very emotional as the book went on.
Sharon, I so agree about the moth being Gamache and Reine-Marie’s wanting him to be out of harm’s way.
He is described early in chapter 1 as “sitting in this quiet place in the bright sunshine” which is a flashback to Trick of the Light and its theme of recovery.
I’m finding the themes of love and loss are typically, wonderfully original. Henri and Rosa, Henri and Emilie (I don’t even own a dog and I was tearing up)! Rosa and Ruth, Olivier and Gabri… and of course Reine-Marie and Annie. And now Peter and Clara.
I love re-readable books!
CLARA
There’s a difference in asking for help and asking someone to do something for you. When she spoke to Armand, she asked for help. She didn’t imply she wanted him to take over which is what, perhaps tp her, he appeared to try to do. I think she saw the search as something she needed to do herself but since she’d never lost a husband before, she needed advice and guidance.
When I was young I wanted to learn how to sew. My mother was an excellent seamstress. Every time I asked her to help, she would take the project and do it herself. I never did learn how to sew.
For better or worse, Clara needed to be the leader, not someone relegated to the sideline. In this important task I believe she was right to feel so.
What a good point. There is a difference between helping and supporting and taking over.
So true! Took me decades to get my hubby to understand I just needed to talk so I could work it out in my own head. Now I just start with, “This is NOT an action item, I just want to talk…” Before that he heard every comment as a ‘call to solve the problem.” I suspect there might have been some of that realization in Gamache while Clara was ranting… Even R-M told him, “Maybe she just wanted your ear…”
I have heard it said before that men and women respond differently to problems. Women like to talk things out, mull things over and that can be a solution in itself. Men like to “solve” problems directly. I am surprised a little, that Clara didn’t spend more time talking with Myrna, for example, when Peter did not show up. I know she was embarrassed, anxious, desperate, but she has very good friends she would normally turn to.
Yes, Anna, that was strange! But I loved the way Myrna handled it – she went to visit Clara and when she finally opened the door and looked so mad, Myrna paid no attention and just walked directly into the kitchen like always. Maybe because Myrna is single, Clara thinks she wouldn’t understand her fears and desperation about Peter’s not returning. But Myrna’s a very perceptive woman and a wonderful friend and eventually Clara tells her everything.
I’m relieved that others found this book a bit challenging. I felt a little let down, but also find myself thinking back to some of the themes, a bit as I do when the Rep has a difficult play that I don’t think I’ll like and then find I’ve learned lessons from it. I suspect it is making me acknowledge some issues I don’t want to face in the “real world.”
I want to speak in warning of the “break a finger” mode of speaking. Storytellers have also been looking for an equivalent of the theater’s phrase, and I didn’t give it much thought until one of my storytelling friends pointed me toward a book _Your Body Believes Every Word You Say_. I now try to avoid the loaded negative phrases our language seems filled with . . .
Interesting comment about negative language. I have no doubt that positive and negative self talk affect us mentally and physically and we have seen the power of language both in the LP books and their effects on people (Millie I am thinking of you as a clear example). But words are just sounds/scribbles until we give them meaning.
I was chuffed each time someone wished the writers among us luck, because that is what I ‘heard’ when the phrase “break a finger”was used. I heard well wishing and kindness, made all the more sweet by the fact we have only this virtual relationship. I heard caring.
I think the intention behind words, sometimes an intention only we have put there, can be an incredibly strong influence on our well being. This is the danger in texts and emails and even in virtual text based communities. The words have to stand by themselves, with an absence of other cues from body language and facial expressions, often with an absence of a prior relationship, to guide the reader to the intention. Our emotions and experiences can alter the meaning beyond what the writer had in mind.
I think we also see this in our individual responses to LP’s books. It is one of the reasons why a book is both an individual and a shareable experience. We don’t all react the same way or see or feel the same things. Exploring our reactions and those of others can illuminate ourselves even as we see multiple meanings in the story. It’s another way the light gets in.
I agree, Anna. When someone in the theater says “break a leg”, they mean good luck, because to the convoluted logic of theater people, it’s bad luck to wish someone “good luck”. We are constantly trying to “fool the gods” in cases like these. “The Scottish Play” instead of “Macbeth” is another instance. Just a silly superstition, yet, I warn you now – don’t try to fly in the face of it IN a theater, or you’ll be very embarrassed by the result.
“Break a finger”, a phrase coined by our very own Anna, is full of good wishes and thoughts, and that is also what I “hear” when I see the phrase. I have absolute belief in the power of words – came of age during the golden age of feminism, where all kinds of machinations were tried to take the sexism out of language (some worked, some didn’t). But I know for sure when a little girl reads her first history book and learns that “men have been adventurers since time began”, she takes that literally, and crosses “adventurer” off the list of things she might do some day. So language counts. For a lot.
But, like Anna, I think it’s also important to realize that every person here knew what we meant by “break a finger”, and that our bodies did, too.
Oh, ladies… Talk about the power of words! Thank you for your warm welcome to this group and your encouragement. The funny thing for me about “break a finger” is that I had been involved in community theatre for 10 years! (Mostly administration) So it absolutely felt right.
Now for another confession. After I pressed ‘post comment’ I desperately looked for a way to erase comment. What had I done??? I wanted to participate from Still Life, but life has a way of throwing curve balls.
But I’m here now and tho I’m not exactly sure yet how the commenting on things works I’d like to offer more substance to why I loved what Louise did with Clara’s character. Clara had spent 20 years subjugating her needs and wants to those of her husband. Supporting him unconditionally while she happily worked on warrior uteri! She has not changed ‘overnight’… Her change began over a year ago when she herself became a ‘peaceful warrior’ and stood her ground for the first time with Peter and asked him to leave. And yet, and yet… Admitting to someone you’re darkest fear? Scary stuff. She regretted telling AG right after doing so! She too wished she could ‘erase comment’, but too late.
I didn’t have the courage to look back at this site for real fear of, ‘Hey lady, get out of our sandbox. Who be you?’ Not that I believed that anyone would actually say that, but that my comments would be met with stoic silence. My paranoia knows no bounds… And so naturally I think so does Clara. But the ‘peaceful warrior’ is out and afraid for her ‘life as she knows it’ and that of Peter’s… My sons are nearing their 30’s and i still tell them, “If I sound angry it’s because I’m scared.” Go Clara! I love you!!!
I’d like to offer another topic that has intrigued me as much as the ‘mothiness’ – great obsevations! The engraving of ‘Surprised by Joy’ on the bench… I reread & reread chapters 1-10 to make sure I didn’t go beyond that part, and who denied doing it, but I keep coming back to Peter did it! The bench overlooks the Village, and, as a boy, Peter would sit in front of his parent’s paintings for hours. I can see him, while in Toronto where he stayed for a few months, paying cash for a train ticket to Montreal, renting a car, cash & untraceable, to the Village and quietly checking on his world as he knew it & all the beauty of Three Pines just as AG does every morning… Still Life ends with that phrase. Peter has maybe, for the first time, been surprised by joy. The paintings he left with Bean show the childlike joy of being free from the constraints of ‘the Morrows’. So… If it IS Peter, it’s a masterful ‘full circle’ story, not a transitional story.
Millie, what a gift it would be if Peter had done the carving! I never would have thought of that possibility.
Millie, you are not the only one who has been afraid that they will make a comment and it will be rubbished or ignored. I honestly don’t know which is worse sometimes. I think lots of people here would understand your fear and your hunt for the erase button. I know I do.
I say a big hello to everyone who has commented. If we haven’t replied directly, don’t let that worry you, we are reading and we do welcome everyone. I actually try to make an effort to comment on what people have written precisely because I want people to know they are being acknowledged and considered. But then I don’t want to hog space either. At least in this forum everyone can say as much as they want without talking over anyone.
If anyone is standing at the door wondering if they can come in and have a yarn, please do. I love hearing the variety of opinions.
Now about that fifty word homework you were set young Millie………
Young, Millie? You made my day, Anna! I’ll be 61 soon. But my neighbor is 94 and an inspiration to me. 🙂 ok, ok… I admitted to not daring to look at this site again till after 11pm EDT so just found out about the challenge. Yours is easier than my son’s – 2,000 words by next Friday. Insert Ruth & Rosa’s expletive here 3 times, please. 😉
I’m also still trying to figure out how this site works. Seems one has to go forward and back to see if any replies have been added to a comment. So is that how one does it? If so by the end of the novel I’ll be as lost as my boxes of random thoughts in pretty notebooks (yes plural, its been in my head for 17 frigen years! I have notes!…lol)
My apologies for seeming to reiterate what others had mentioned previously about Clara. But something else occurred to me while reading everyone’s comments and replies: clara’s character seems ‘off’ to so many. She’s done a 180, just like the book cover. Just like there not being a murder in the beginning… Ruth being nice? R-M cursing with abandon & enjoying it? Gamache taking a back seat? All their lives have been turned upside down. How could they not? The entire village was almost blown up and they risked their lives to help Gamache anyway. It reminds me of a Mother Theresa prayer, too long for here but basically people will hurt you, be nice anyway!
People may laugh, write anyway! 🙂 Just do the best you can ‘today’ because we don’t know if we’ll have a tomorrow? Or if someone we love will be with us tomorrow… Guess I’m a late joiner & bloomer. And that’s ok, too. I’m really starting feel I’ve found my very own Three Pines of very nice people.
And what an interesting thought that Peter might have been the carver. I love the little mysteries, the carving, Bean…..
And of course you and the others who have mentioned are correct, Clara did not change overnight. We forget so much time has passed for her.
Trying to navigate this site can be difficult sometimes – threads go on for a certain while, but eventually, you come down to “only so many replies” allowed, and we get something we’d like to reply to and there’s no reply button. At least, when we move to chapters 11-20, I believe we’ll get a fresh new page to spoil, hahaha.
I, too, often worry about what I’m saying – do I say too much? Is everyone tired of reading my so-called “pearls”? I love that this is not like a conventional book club, because there, you really do have to be careful not to talk so much others don’t get a chance. But I worry that this has allowed me to “talk” too much. Still – I get excited – people say things I want to respond to – even if it’s just “me, too!”
Okay – I promise now – no more until tomorrow. (of course, that’s just because I’m off to bed now, hahahaha)
What I can’t work out is why some posts don’t have a reply button on the bottom, like yours Millie. You are young. An 84 y.o once told me, one we get past 20 we just age on the outside! Now, as you say, just do your best today, we don’t know what tomorrow brings. Don’t worry about where to start writing, start anywhere and add the beginning and the ends around it.
Yep, unfortunately we can’t tag threads so it’s scroll through everything to find where the new posts are. Couple of tips, check the number of comments up the top to see if there are new comments since you last visited. When scrolling, look at the dates on the posts, helps find new ones. There is an odd benefit to this system, we do keep re reading what has been written and that makes new connections, prompts new thoughts.
Never too late to find your tribe. Now if Paul Hochman could find a way for us to keep in contact after the reading ends that would be good.
The village has been turned upside, the characters are doing 180s and the cover is flipped, unless you have my version. I see a theme. Change is unsettling, uncomfortable and it takes effort and energy, but it’s not bad. So curious as to where Louise takes us next, I’m learning to cope with change.
If you all have signed up for the newsletter, that’s how we’ll stay in touch, Anna.
Wouldn’t that just be so poetic if it had been Peter? In my mind, it’s either Olivier or Ruth. Olivier because I think his heart is full having been brought back “into the fold” and he wanted to give a gift. Ruth, because I think she knows everyone so well… and, of course, neither would ever tell.
Thanks Paul.
My pleasure.
Oh, I like both of those possibilities – Olivier or Ruth. Writing is Ruth’s “weapon of choice”, and she tends to surprise you with what you see in her writing…
Paul – you are very clever! That’s a great way for us to be sure we stay connected. So when someone, say, finishes a book and is ready for people to see it, maybe they can write in to the newsletter and let them know, and we can all get together then!
Or maybe we can build in a general discussion board after we finish THE LONG WAY HOME where we can all continue to gather.
Millie, You are a great addition to the group. I’ m so happy you took the step to join. After I posted my first comment for this book, I thought “well old girl you’ve done it now”. Everyone will hate you now. I don’t need everyone to agree with me….just respect my right to my opinions. Everyone has been great about that.
Wow! I love your comment, to your sons, that you sound angry because you are scared. I can identify with that.
Millie, you are young. I was 74 in June, but what is unbelievable is my sister, my only sibling, will be 70 on Sunday.
I won’t keep you longer as you have writing to do.
Hi Barbara, thank you for your welcome to this group. My nature is to be a loner. ‘Joining’, exposing myself is difficult. Too off topic to get into the why’s here. So books became my first friends but I have so missed the wonderful discussions of literature from my college days. The differences of opinion made it richer, fuller. No one hated anyone with a different opinion – and i certainly hope my personal & passionate affection towards Clara didn’t come across as my dismissing anyone else’s feelings about the character and her development. Ultimately, isn’t that the goal of an author? To have the reader feel something? 🙂 The beauty of a group like this is that we all add our own unique life experiences to to our interpretation of the story. Its something to be grateful for, not something to hate! Glory be! If i could only be so kind to myself…
Wow! I think that idea of Peter watching the village but not entering was amazing! I really never thought of that but it does make perfect sense. In addition this immediately brought me back to Olivier. Remember in one of the earlier books (no, I have no idea which one) he talks about when he came back from prison and his hesitation to enter the Bistro. He stood outside and watched people laughing and getting on with their lives, wondering if he could ever be a part of that once more.
Or just batting against it, accomplishing nothing?
A thought that just verbalized itself to me, about the moth and the light again. Maybe you all already got to this point but I hadn’t really. I was still not quite feeling comfortable with it. We can BE in the light without trying to be be IN ( part of) the light. Like Icarus flying too close?
Love it, Cathryne! I think you are right – and that’s a difficult distinction to achieve sometimes. We are all flawed, and yet, as long as we continue to try, I think we’ll be alright…
Hi Cathryne, loved your comment about the moth and it reminding you of Icarus… It still puzzles me how different this is from the ongoing “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light get’s in.” Perhaps we need to be open enough (cracked) to ‘let the light in’, rather than force our way into it? I was first introduced to the series thru ‘Beautiful Mystery’ a few years ago, then had to get them all and wait for the last two. But I remember Gamache being so taken by the light of the monastery… I was pleased how that phrase kept coming up… But not once in this book.
There’s a crack in everything – it’s How the Light Gets In – does come up in several previous books, and finally became the title. I’ve noticed that all the titles come up somewhere in previous books, which means ( I expect) that the next title is something we’ve already read. Maybe – “There’s a Balm in Gilead” or some such thing that has struck us as we’ve read. I think that the crack in everything point is going to be let alone now, because, finally, the light got in – the Surete is once again “clean” and clear of corruption. Time now to move onward. Once again, I really am on tenterhooks wondering where we will go from here. I’m immensely grateful that Book 11 is being written, and hopeful that there will be a 12 and 13, and… but where we will go from here is a mystery. They can’t live happily ever after, unfortunately – bad things have to happen for us to have something to read. Don’t you feel a little guilty? Hee hee.
Thinking of where we might go from here, I remembered about Jerome and Therese Brunel and their fascination for puzzles of various sorts. Perhaps we are going to see a variety of different types of puzzles for Armand to solve, not necessarily murder mysteries. This one is a missing person, what happened to Peter, where did he go and why, so I can see there might be different types of mysteries in Gamache’s – and our – future.
What an interesting idea, Sylvia.
Good thought Sylvia
Thanks Julie! I enjoyed the laugh.
After reading the many insightful comments about the moth and the light, I have much more appreciation for that part of the book. I can see it relating in so many ways as the story goes on and in future books (as well, of course, to my life).
I too became a book glutton having read this book in a couple of sittings. For me the Balm of Gilead is a picture of three pines. A place where the sin sick soul can find peace. Gamache career had involved death and the unadulterated depravity of the human race, he was tired of the battles and was looking for restoration. That he would allow Clara to draw him back to that world says a lot about friendship.
Just left Quebec where my friend and I took the tour and had tea at La Petite Coin , saw the Lit and His society among other important stops. we are now official Penny People.
I loved the book,
Nancy
Nancy, Your Quebec trip sounds like so much fun. All I have done is look at the tour, the His and Lit and other Quebec sights on their web sites. Although this AM, I had an email from Quebec Tourism showing parks in and around Quebec City in their beautiful Fall colors. It doesn’t cost anything to dream at least.
Nancy, I’m so jealous that you could take “the tour”! I have that as a bucket list item for myself now. I’ve always wanted to see Quebec City, but never as much as now. And of course, now I want to see the north shore of the St. Laurence River! Louise writes so very well about place. She wrings every bit of emotion from the landscape, that it only makes sense that this time, she invoked the paintings of Gagnon especially, but also Tom Thompson, which show the emotion so very well.
Quebec and indeed that whole side of Canada is on our wish list. I have seen the walking tour online.
While the book is certainly different from the previous 9 (no murder at the beginning, no politics when dealing with the surete police) I still enjoyed it immensely. I loved R-M larger role and I thought the moth in the light was brilliant writing from Ms. Penny. This time around we are certainly getting a deeper look into the characters make up. Books 8 and 9 were so intense and left me drained. After reading this book, I am more at peace but wonder……
Starting with the “balm in Gilead”, having absorbed the previous tome in the series, I fully understood Gamache’s absorption in this thesis. an almost desperate search for peace of mind. To me, the primary focus on people’s needs, peace(Gamache), losses (Clara) beginning of recovery (Beaurevoir), deep sensitivity (Ruth) was a wonderful beginning. I enjoyed the expansion of character (Myrna), and the village’s charm itself – reiterated and magnified. I have always felt Reine-Marie’s longing for her husband’s full attention to home versus occupation. This book’s beginnings and indeed its entirety reveals a maturity of spirit in the author. And it pulsed with the vitality of the varied life in its Quebeqois locales. Whoopee, I’m a forever admirer.
After reading the book and mulling it over; I really enjoyed the village and all the minor characters interacting.
The series, so far had a back story that climaxed with book nine. Book 10 seems like a transition book. Everything seems settled. Jean-guy is on the mend, so is Gamache. There isn’t any strain with the Surete or back lash. It just feels like there is something missing.
I did read the last 3 chapters again and will take the time to reread the whole book.
I did enjoy the travels up the St. Lawrence and into the nether world of Quebec.
I loved “The Long Way Home” and will read it again and again. The pace was perfect for me and I loved the references to art and artists throughout. I volunteer as a docent in the major gallery in my city and enjoy both the training I receive and the job of touring guests through the various and changing exhibits. I am inspired to learn more all the time. Ms Penny writes in a totally believable way – I can smell the smells, feel the pain, the angst, the joy, whatever arises in her stories. I immediately understood the reference to Balm in Gilead having sung that particular hymn during Lent and understand why it was chosen. I am off to choir practice now but thanks Louise for another great book.
Juanita, I have to admit to being a little envious of you. Your talent and experience gave you the ability to see Peter’s paintings without having a picture of them…for me it was very frustrating as I was so unsure of what I was supposed to be seeing. I even have difficulty visualizing how fabric will look made into clothing or household furnishings. When I was decorating the house we own now, I had to buy yards of material and hang it at the windows and drape it over the chairs and sofas to get an idea how it would look.
Thankfully, I can read well written descriptions of landscapes, people, most anything but paintings and see it.
You and others who can visualize so well are fortunate. Glad you are enjoying the book.
The only complaint I have with this book is the smaller cast of characters. I adore the badinage between and among the habitants and missed it.
Clara is my favorite character. She has every right to direct the search for her husband and Gamache was correct in deferring to her. She has been diminished her entire life and, having tasted sweet success (she would have settled for sincere acknowledgement of her talents) she is not about to crawl under another rock and assume her “place”. Peter, on the other hand, is a —- (slang for his first name) and I was not sorry to have him gone.
I, also, wonder about Nichol—and Bean. Don’t let anything happen to Henri.
I adored adored adored the book.
I thought this was her best book in the series! I am continually fascinated by her ability to bring first time readers up to date with the characters involved without boring her long time readers!
Her descriptions of the Canadian wilderness are lyrical! I cannot wait to re explore the St. Lawrence region!
I believe she has kept Gamache faithful to himself, and am enjoying the larger role given to Reine Marie!
I am so grateful for the opportunity to read this amazing series, and now will treat myself to an episode on Acorn TV!
I wasn’t going to post for several weeks but just couldn’t stay away. The posts, as always, are so interesting and insightful.
It was Clara’s rudeness to and treatment of Gamache that upset me first. I just couldn’t think of that dear man, who has suffered so much, to be belittled. I thought he should have, or at least allowed Jean Guy, to stand up to Clara. I’m trying not to write spoilers but the “new” Clara continues in the same vein and Gamache remains passive.
I’m glad you didn’t stay away Barbara. Rudeness is always aggravating, even if people have a reason for being upset. Perhaps it will get easier to talk more freely about the things that bothered you as we get through the chapters. What things did you like about the beginning, if anything? What did you think of Jean Guy and his recovery?
I am with those who enjoyed seeing Bean again but I too am bewildered by the need to keep the gender secret. Maybe it is so people who read this book first are still in the dark when they go back and discover Louise’s earlier work. Bean’s secret is a big part of the character.
I was glad to hear about Bean again too. I think she is a girl and hope we hear more about her.
I agree, Barbara! Actually, when Clara accused Armand of meddling in her life because he was bored, I thought that crossed the line beyond rudeness into meanness. Also, although Clara resents being seen as a damsel in distress, it’s hard not to when her approach to the problem is to hang around silently and passively until Armand asks what the trouble is. In part I’m sure her desire not to burden him is sincere, but by going about it the way she does, she can also tell herself “I didn’t dump the burden on him. He asked.”
Oh yes, Lynne, Clara can’t come out of that encounter looking anything but foolish and ungrateful. I don’t think it made Gamache look or feel diminished in any way, though. He understands about people losing their mind and lashing out without logic or fairness. He knows how to wait for them to come back from moments of insanity. Of course, in this case, he was glad for an excuse to walk away and return to peace and solitude. I don’t think he cares about or respects Clara less.
I like that Gamache is reaching out and saying, “I need help.” It seems like we may see more of this part of him. We have said that we want to get to know some of the characters better and it seems like we will. We won’t always feel comfortable with what we see, but I’m not liking Clara less or respecting Gamache less.
Of course, Gamache is not in his usual formal capacity here. He is now just a private citizen and friend of Clara and Peter, so he can’t just assume his usual leadership position. That changes the context a good deal.
Very good point Sylvia. Armand can’t act as he once did and is not required to act as he once was. In every previous book Armand had to do things because of his position. This time he actually gets to choose to be involved and his subsequent role is dictated by his position as a friend not a policeman. Very different dynamic. Interesting though that Jean Guy still sees him as the boss but I also think Jean Guy feels a little more equal with Armand now. More collegial than subordinate.
As I watched her latest interview with The Poisoned Pen owner, I saw that several times, Barbara tried to say that maybe Gamache will be a “private eye” now, and each time, Louise almost jumped, and quickly said ‘NO’. I wonder if she has some plans for him…..
Julie, I noticed that too. No “consulting detective” in Three Pines then I guess. I am anxious to see just how his story line will work out.
They have more than the professional relationship now. Jean-Guy is now Armand’s son-in-law, so that changes their relationship to more of an equal, collegial one, even though he still looks on Armand as boss, or “patron”, and can’t bring himself to say his name.
One of my favourite lines in the first ten chapters is when Myrna talks about jealousy: “It’s like drinking acid……and expecting the other person to die.”
Yes! I love this too.
Wow! That’s powerful, isn’t it!
Sylvia, I’m also a page glutton and read the book in a couple of days. I like your idea of re-reading the first 10 for the discussion, though. Thank you! (There were times I wanted to simply sit and drink with Ruth and Rosa.)
Hello everyone, I’m so glad we’re able to stay together and discuss this latest book! And welcome back, Meg; you were missed! I read the book in two days – couldn’t resist – and now I’m re-reading the chapters for each week. I enjoyed it very much, but the biggest surprise for me was Clara’s intense anger that Armand had told Jean-Guy about her problem. Armand is still healing internally, spiritually, and isn’t ready to take on a new challenge yet, but when he felt Clara needed his help he didn’t hesitate. The intensity of her anger and rudeness to Armand indicates what a mess of anxiety and stress she has got herself into. Peter is about two weeks overdue and she hasn’t heard anything from him, so she’s thinking he doesn’t want to come home.
Someone said she thinks they will just take up where they left off, but how else can she think of it? I think she’s right, she’ll know when she sees him how she feels about him, but now she needs to find him. Interesting about the moth and your interpretations of it. I was taken with the idea that it represented Peter, but in the end I think it representing Armand and Reine-Marie’s feelings about him getting back into an investigation of some sort is more likely. She makes a point to Jean-Guy at the end of How the Light Gets In that Armand was made to do what he did and although he could retire, he couldn’t quit. However, she had hoped he would have a longer time to recover from his woundedness.
Sylvia,
I still haven’t sorted Clara out for myself yet. Could her anger over Gamache telling Jean-Guy about Peter, her reluctance to reveal his failure to return also be explained by simple embarrassment? by having to admit that her marriage is in trouble or has failed? They’ve been one unit in 3 Pines Clara-Peter doing community things, gatherings, invitations in tandem. She’s swallowed rejection of her art work for years, but that marriage was (yes questionably for us readers) was her one success until Book #9. I suspect what coming chapters will reveal about Peter – and then Clara too, but am not sure enough right now to make any predictions about them.
Sylvia – yes, I do think Clara will know when she sees Peter. And she probably can’t imagine (or couldn’t, before the story began) him any other way. I am hoping he has finally been able to “fix” what was broken inside him, and they will be able to be together.
I thought Clara’s being angry with Gamache was abrupt and certainly rude, but I think I understood it. Partly – she is so worried that she is not reacting normally. But also – she has spent most of her marriage and career in the back seat. She has deferred to Peter for years, and she has finally decided she can’t do that anymore. Part of it was sending him away and discovering that the world didn’t end – that her life went on quite well without him, though she DID miss him in the little ordinary moments of the day. Clara has changed quite a bit since she sent Peter away, and she is no longer passive. As we go on, we’ll see more of this.
I think that Armand has always been a very sensitive soul – and when he sees what Clara needs, he does his best to give it to her, and if that means taking a step back and waiting for Clara to decide what to do, he is willing to do that. I know he’s worried about Peter, too – and considers Peter a friend. But he knows the best thing to do is hold back and wait for Clara.
Hi Cathryne Spencer. I couldn’t find a reply button at the bottom of your post so I am adding my response to the end of another “Clara” thread!
I was trying to find that exact section you quoted but I got distracted so thank you for posting about the fear in Armand’s eyes. Really enjoyed what you had to say about Clara’s response to guilt and fear. I agree we act defensively when we have those strong emotions and targeting the one we have wronged is not uncommon. The best offense is a good defense after all.
I think our response to Clara is so interesting. She has broken the bounds I had set for her in my mind and it has been very uncomfortable. Like realizing my teenager has a mind of her own and won’t always behave the way I thought she would or want her to. Isn’t growth in others challenging!
I like the comparison to Reine-Marie. She has always been a contained, together woman and Clara “messy” by description. Their emotional responses are like their characters. R-M has a smoother emotional facade compared to Clara’s spiky one. Hope that makes sense.
Hi all. And welcome back, Meg. Looks like another good discussion is coming. And for once I figured something out the first time through. I knew, or thought I knew, where the book had come from and as it turns out I was right. Will not give it away in case some haven’t finished but I wonder if in his healing Armond is going back to his first “wound” and using it as a starting place, essential to the whole process. I will also say that I had reservations about this book but I’m not sure why. Have thought of two possible reasons. One that after all this discussion I found it hard to just enjoy the book without looking for clues or analysing it and two that I found How The Light Gets In so fantastic that it just blew me away and it’s hard to come down to earth. Now I’m re-reading The Long… and will see how it goes as I just savor it. Will let you know.
Agreed… I am re-reading it again because I was just slightly “disappointed” in this book, although that could be the wrong word. Louise’s writing is so wonderful and her storytelling talent surpasses most, yet I think I was looking for a more conventional storyline. Nevertheless, I love the character development and I don’t mind learning more about art, especially these famous Canadian painters. I googled Gagnon’s works and loved them.
I’m disappointed, too. I find the beginning choppy (lots of non-sentences that could be combined) and a bit repetitive. The Scotland part just disappears and the ten muses issue seems a bit far-fetched. (SPOILER ALERT) There’s no clue that Professor Massey might have another side. Why doesn’t Ruth (who seems to have no impulse control) say something sooner about him? And (SPOILER ALERT) I don’t like the ending, especially after the long search. I love the previous books, particularly the last one, so maybe this one just couldn’t live up to that. And perhaps, too, after a year of waiting for this one, there’s a tendency to idealize and place unfair expectations on the author. As always, I love the characters and am glad that Reine-Marie is playing a bigger role. And Ruth, who may be my favorite. Still a good book, just not one of her best.
I think she may be setting us up for some challenges characters will be working their way thru in the next book. As you re-read it, picture what would have happened had they not begun the search.
Interesting thought Laura! Wonder what would have happened?
Laura! I finally finished the book ( so much for savoring it slowly) and one of the first things I did was think about what would have happened if they had not embarked on the search – if Clara had been able to let it alone. There are a million other “what if’s” as well – if they’d done this, or that, or the other thing”. But the big, main one is what if they hadn’t gone looking? As I re-read, I’ll be watching for this now.
Hi Laura, I too am chomping at the bit to discuss the what-if’s… This S L O W process is torture for me but also revealing.
Millie – I know what you mean by how slow it seems. What’s great about this, though, is that we thoroughly look at the part of the book we’re “allowed” to discuss – I’d never do such in-depth analysis, I think, without this structure.
For those of you who are puzzled about the balm in Gilead reference, have you read Marilynne Robinson’s book Gilead? That would provide additional clues.
Linda, I just looked up the Gilead book and thanks to Mr. Google learned lots. It sounds like a fascinating book and explains so much re Armond and his book.
Yep, just been reading this and it is excellent.
This must be it! It sounds perfect for the context…
Thanks, Julie, for the insight on the cover; I can see it now. I too was at the Mpls event and heard Louise explain the picture and the texture. Nice addition to the book.
I realized that this book was not written until 2004, so I’m assuming this can’t be the book that Armand can be reading.
Make that “is reading”, not “can be reading.”