Showerthought: My book club keeps misreading the ending of mystery novels

I'm in a monthly book club here in Austin, and over the past 6 months I've noticed something weird. Every time we read a mystery with a twist ending, half the members argue the ending was obvious when the clues were actually hidden in chapter 2. Last week we discussed a book where the killer was the neighbor, and three people claimed they saw it coming, but nobody mentioned the specific line on page 47 that gave it away. I started tracking which chapters held real clues versus red herrings after the third debate got heated. Has anyone else dealt with people in their group missing key evidence and then claiming they solved it early?

3 comments

3 Comments

lindal1326d ago

That's rough, sounds like a frustrating pattern to deal with.

gavinb9726d ago

Yeah, that "frustrating pattern" part really hits home. I've been there too, and honestly, the only thing that worked for me was setting hard boundaries upfront and sticking to them no matter what. Like, if someone flakes once, I give a gentle reminder, but if it happens twice in a row, I just stop initiating plans. It sucks at first, but it saves a ton of energy in the long run because you stop wasting time on people who aren't going to show up. Eventually you figure out who actually values your time vs who just talks a big game.

harpery4725d ago

Hard boundaries are something I keep meaning to set... right after I finish overthinking everything and talking myself out of it.