Outside Reading #2

A lot has happened in the the book since my last post. Nina's little boy, Nathaniel, stopped talking one day and was taken to a therapist. He gave signs that he had been molested, but since he couldn't talk he wasn't able to give the name of the person who did it. Thus, he learned some basics in sign language and when asked who hurt you he answered father (Picoult 67). Immediately Nina Frost got a restraining order against her husband, only to soon realize her son was trying to accuse Father Glen, a priest at the family's church. The family and Father Glen appeared in court where suddenly Nina pulls out a gun and shoots the priest 4 times in the head!!! At first I thought this was some kind of hallucination or dream going through Nina's head since it was so completely bazaar. I read a little farther and found out it wasn't. Patrick, who I previously suspected to have a crush on Nina, actually does and he was dumbfounded by this event.
Before the shooting I did feel that something weird was about to happen. I wasn't through half the book and the trial for the molesting was taken place, I felt that something big must happen in order to keep my attention through the rest of the novel. I wasn't surprised to find out that Patrick wishes he were the one who was married to Nina instead of Caleb (93). I'm curious to see how his feelings change after the shooting, and what Caleb does in response as well. I'm also wandering what came over Nina to shoot this priest. Although he was the most likely suspect who molested her son, he was still a priest who had been nothing but nice to her in every other way. Yet, all she cared about was the fact that he was dead as we see when she says, " 'Is he dead?' Nina asks. 'I just need you to tell me, Patrick. I killed him, right? How many shots did I get off? I had to do it, you know I had to. He's dead, isn't he? The paramedics can't revive him, can they?' " (128). There's such an urgency in her voice, she doesn't care that she's going to jail, about all the witnesses are now traumatized, or that all the media caught everything on film. She just wants to know that this man won't be alive to ever hurt her son again. Throughout this section of the book the reader sees a different side to Caleb who cares for his son maybe more that his wife, Patrick who shows his true feelings for Nina, and Nina who shows such strong hate for this priest who might have hurt her son that she murders him!! This might be bringing out the theme that traumatizing events can bring out new sides of people. I must keep reading (I hope the murder is a dream).