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The Accidental
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Plot Summary of The Accidental
"A family is on holiday in Norfolk. The woman, Eve, is a writer who suffers from writer's block. Michael is an English Literature teacher who has affairs with a lot of his female students. Magnus is Eve's 17 year old son. He is very depressed because he played a prank on a girl in school which lead to her committing suicide. Astrid is a precocious 12 year old at the beginning of getting her pubes.

One day a person walks into the home, Amber. Michael thinks she comes to interview Eve, Eve thinks she is one of Michael's students. She becomes friends with Astrid. One evening she finds Magnus in the bathroom where he is trying to hang himself.
All of their lives are really changed by Amber's coming. The story is told from the viewpoint of each family member, and a little of it from Amber's viewpoint.
"

Esther Punselie, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Accidental
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).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - actions leading to death of someone
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric
How sensitive is this character? - middling 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: - none

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 (a fair amount)
City? Yes
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Unusual Style: - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books to The Accidental
The Law of Similars by Chris Bohjalian
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Like the Red Panda by Andrea Seigel
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer


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Ali Smith Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Esther Punselie  

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