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| Plot Summary of The Deep End |
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"Joanne Hunter, a 41-year-old suburban housewife, has been living an ordinary, largely uneventful life with her husband Paul, a criminal lawyer, to whom she has been married almost 20 years, and raising their two daughters: 12-year-old Lulu and 15-year-old Robin. Then unexpectedly her world starts to fall apart. Paul comes home early one day and tells her he needs time alone to think about his life and what he wants, and that he is moving out, maybe for a while, maybe permanently. Joanne is stunned speechless and Paul packs some things and leaves.
Around this time Joanne starts getting calls in which the caller says nothing, but soon after starts threatening her. Joanne becomes afraid and tells her best friend Eve who lives next door, but Eve doesn't really take it seriously. Eve is preoccupied with pains and sickness at the time, so Joanne doesn't say much more about it. Joanne also tells Paul about the calls, but he doesn't really take it seriously either – he thinks she is making it up so that he will move back home to be with her. Joanne doesn't tell her daughters about the calls because she doesn't want to upset them. Her parents are dead and she doesn't really have any other friends to tell, so she is left to deal with the calls by herself.
Joanne asks Paul about an alarm system, and he has one installed in the house. This makes Joanne feel somewhat safer, but the caller who has said things in some of the calls that make her realize he has been watching her and following her. Joanne talks to the police, but they tell her there is nothing they can do unless the caller makes a move, like break into her house.
Once Joanne's daughters are away for the summer at summer camp, she ponders her life without Paul and realizes that this separation may be good for her too, as she never really had any time on her own or made any major decisions alone, having lived with her parents until she married young. Joanne's attitude toward the caller also changes, as she slowly goes from being fearful when answering the phone to being angry at the caller and slamming down the phone on him. She does continue, though, to keep the alarm system on and be wary.
"
Crystal, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Deep End |
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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, struggle with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Husband
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- midlife crisis
Crime & Police story
Yes
Story of
- being hunted by killer/stalker
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- homemaker
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
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- a teen
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb:
Yes
Eccentric:
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- wealthy
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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