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| Plot Summary of One True Thing |
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"Ellen, a successful magazine writer living in New York City, is happy with her job and her life. However, when Ellen's mother gets cancer and doesn't have long to live, Ellen's father asks Ellen to come home and care for her mother. When Ellen suggests hiring a nurse, Ellen's father tells her that she has no heart. Ellen moves back home to please her father. When her mother realizes she has moved back home, she is horrified that Ellen gave up her job and her life to take care of her, and Ellen realizes her father didn't consult her mother about this. Ellen tells her mother that it's okay, even though she doesn't feel okay.
Ellen finds her day-to-day life tedious. However, Ellen comes to realize that she is grateful she was able to spend time with her mother and get to know her better.
As Ellen watches her mother deteriorate and become full of despair, she wishes she could alleviate her mother's pain and suffering, but when her mother pleads with Ellen to end it for her, Ellen cannot do it. Ironically, the autopsy of Ellen's mother shows a fatal overdose of morphine. Ellen is taken to the police station and questioned, then arrested. Ellen thinks her father gave her mother the fatal dose, but Ellen never mentions this to anyone. "
Crystal, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of One True Thing |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Family, caring for ill
Yes
Who is sick?
- Mother
because he/she is
- physically ill
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- teacher
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 8 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Anna Quindlen Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Crystal
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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