Anne's response to The Time in Between

I have to say that I am neutral on this book.  I didn't find the plot, characters, or narrative overly interesting.  As far as Charles is concerned, I read him as a weak character of himself.  I didn't like that he killed himself -- there seemed to be very little driving him to that decision.  Yes, he saw horrors in Vietnam but I was expecting there to be more attempts on his part to reconcile his actions with the remaining villagers, not just the one try and then killing himself.  

I honestly did not see the point of the characters, Jack and Elaine Gouds.  At first it seemed like there was going to be more than a superficial relationship with Elaine and Charles but then he just turned himself off.  I would much rather have seen him bond with Elaine and perhaps achieve some healing through a relationship her.  It would have been more dramatic and appealing (to me) if Charles had become attached to her and then, despite attempts to reconcile his past with her help, he killed himself.  Also, his ghosts could have been more awful.  I found Kiet had more ghosts than Charles did and I felt more compassion towards Kiet.  But maybe the author wasnt' tryin to make us feel sorry for Charles.....

I thought Jon was a useless wimp who needed a huge reality check.  Ada should have dragged him back to the morgue and made him face his father's corpse.  I come from 'old school' stock that says if the father's gone, then the son needs to step up and be a man and support his family.  Jon did the opposite in Vietnam with Ada - he hid behind his fears and wasn't around when Ada needed him most.  Then he gets angry with her when she almost dies and doesn't have a chance to tell him that their father killed himself.  

Ada was an interesting character but I don't think she was fascinating.   I wasn't sure where she was coming from and I still don't know.  She was vague and closed off.  She maybe opened up a bit with Hoang Vu.  She was the reliable, sensible sibling so maybe that has something to do with it.  I would have like to have seen her get really angry with Jon and put him in his place instead of being passive with him.