I liked Man in the Blue Moon, but it did take me a while to truly get into it, and I'm not sure when that was. I suppose when Lanier ame out of the box, I was a little taken in, and then I would want to know what would be next. The family struggled at such incredible odds, and there were so many emotions. Samuel and the Creek Indian, Narcissa, were loyal and at the same time volatile. Lanier was strange to be sure. So maybe I really was taken in at the beginning. I am glad I read the book, and I soon found myself in Ella's corner. It was sad to me when Labnier left for New Orleans, and it seemed that urely Ella woul get it before it was too late. Secrets, though, from one another does raise barrirs, and I think that was the problem for the two off them.

It was an emotional time when Lanier found her husband in the tent of people who were dying of the influenza.

Clive reminded me of the bhanker in "It's a Wonderful Life."

What about that minister? The one who was trying to start a retreat at the spring that was on Ella's property mainly, it would seem, to heal his life. But Clive saw it as a way to bring in money.

Did anyone ever notice that the powerful are often portrayed as very fat? What is that? Mostly in this day those of us who are more than a little fat feel powerless, sometimes because we feel looked down upon and partly because we start to feel despair about the  weight we are carrying and the difficulty removing it. Of course we have that power. But in this book, even as in so many others, and even sometimes in the Bible, power is portrayed with gross fat.

And another thing. I thought this book peaked at the fire fight between good and evil, the sorrow of the death of Narcissa, but the jubilation at the death of the "main bad guys" here. Seemed the book could end right there with Ella putting her full trust in Lanier. The town was still talking her down a little though, so she turns him away. Then there is a new peak with the influenza epidemic. That had to happen if we were to learn of the whereabouts of Harlan, and maybe Ella's near death had to be ortraying the hopelessness she was feeling, and then at the last minute, Lanier returns. At that point, she realizes he is to be trusted and together they can rebuild. The retreat, too, comes to an important place where it serves to educate young women. So the book has peaks and valleys and they are significant.

Ariel, where are you moving to? You live in Texas now, yes?

There were several places that stood out for me. One was Narcissa giving Ella that stash of money she had been keeping for going to Brazil and then being killed sort of in the line of duty while helping to protect the family. That made me feel profoundly sad.

When the two brothers and the hit men were killed, along with Clive, I couldn't help feeling glad. I hate to feel that way, but they meant nothing but harm to Ella.

It made me angry whenever Ella was with Clive trying to do business, and he kept calling her "precious" and sort of coming on to her. So slimy.

Lanier's healing of the black girl.

Lanier's finding Harlan and his trying to make him know who he was. I suspect there are others.

I really like this way of doing the book club even if realtors get in the way. *smile*

I also agree that it didn't grab me right at the beginning, but it was really the characters that drew me in. I found the pace a little slow at times, but anytime I considered stopping reading it I could not, because I wanted to find out what happened to everyone. I really thought the portrayal of the characters and their relationships to each other is what made this book. It is different than what I normally read, but I ended it glad I read it and glad I finished.