the+pact

THE P A C T [ a love story ] JODI PICOULT

**WEEK FIVE: Theme: The theme for this week is responding to the text. We thought that this week, the book was more confusing but it was still good. For the overall outlook on the book we thought it was very good. I personally, thought it was more on the boring side. I think it was the too dramatic aspect i didn't like. But in the end, we all thought it was a good plot and story line. -Taylor Kennedy

** Questions 1) Besides “the pact” Chris and Emily made, what other pacts are there? a. There is the pact between the marriage of the Golds and Hartes too. There are temptations between the different families to stay close and not let everything effect them is a unsaid pact in the story. Gus and Michael also have temptations for each other which make the pacts in their marriages hard to keep. 2) Would you consider Chris guilty of murder? a. No, because its what Emily wanted, had Chris not helped her in what he thought would be together, she would have done it on her own at another time. 3) Do you think the Golds and the Hartes are too close? a. Yes, we think had they not be as close as they are and do everything together both the death of Emily and the temptations between would have been avoided. 4) Do you think Emily was right in committing suicide? a. No, she had many other options. Had she just talked to her friends and family all the problems could have been averted. 5) Did you enjoy the story? a. We did we think it was a great story and taught a lesson. It taught us to talk about how we feel and that things aren’t as they seem. For some people who seem completely happy could be hurting the worst. -Colleen Garguilo

Summary: Today nobody brought food. Some of the other groups were nice enough to share their food with us. At the end of the book everything is brought together. We found out that chris did not get convicted and we all agreed that the Golds and the Hartes were too close. Overall taylor, colleen, and i thought it was a good book. At some points in the book it was very confusing and we got through it but after reading the ending, it helped us have a good understanding of those confusing parts. -Jaryn Pitkowsky

WEEK FOUR: -Taylor Kennedy
 * Theme:** The theme of the week is the images. We said that we pictured the house and who scenery as an old house/farm. We pictured everyone to dress in our clothes and that the two famileies would be very friendly with eachother. We pictured that the families would very very sad because of their loss. We always thought that the peoples attitudes will change with one another because they are trying to overcome what they had gone though.

This week we forgot food. Thankfully Amelia and her group gave us some of their food. We ate some leftover Doritos. We also discussed the book and what’s happening in it now. Jaryn asked us questions like how jail effected Chris and why Emily really killed herself. The answer to the second one, as we learned from our past weeks reading is because she was pregnant, not in love, and was once molested. The book is at its high right now and is very dramatic. -colleen gargiulo
 * Summary:**

 **Questions:** 1. How does jail benefit/hurt chris? Does it change him? -It teaches him that doing a crime has bad consequences and it helps him because he knows he can never do do bad things again. 2. What does the title of the book refer too? -The pact between Emily and Chris. 3. What is an important quote from this book? -"He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did now know where she stopped and he began." 4. Why did Emily Gold really want to kill herself? -As a child she was molested. This gave her insecurities in her sexual life with Chris. There was a lot of pressure put on her by her family and then she got pregnant. At this point she is a little suicidal. The fact that she couldn't go through with the abortion made her go over the edge. -Jaryn Pitkowsky

Theme: The theme of this week is the mood and tone of the book is very drastic and dramatic. The tone of the book is very dramatic because everyone seems to talk about everything like its threatening of their life. We noticed that They always talk about the main characters and how they are all doing. Also, we seemed to notice that the sentences use a lot of commas, therefore making pauses and causes everything to become dramatic. The way people say things in this book is very extraordinary. -Taylor Kennedy
 * WEEK THREE:**

Summary: This week for book club it was just Taylor and myself. Jaryn was out of school at the teen arts festival. Me and taylor snacked on some brownies and drank ice tea. We discussed our readings of the past week. Me and Taylor found that the book continues getting more and more interesting as we read into it. The book has reached a very intense point as we learn more about everyones past. We learned the Emily had never seen Chris in a romantic way. We are very interested in seeing where the book goes next! -Colleen Gargiulo

Questions: 1. How does Emily see Chris? -Emily does not see Chris in a romantic way. 2. How did they connect Chris with Emily's suicide? -Jordan found out that Chris was left-handed and that was related to the Trajectory of the bullet. 3. Did Chris know that Emily was pregnant? -No chris did not know at first but after jordan questioned him, jordan told chris that she was eleven weeks pregnant. 4. How was melanie feeling about being in Emily's room after she was gone? -Melanie was still shocked that Emily was gone. She was not ready to touch or go through Emily's items. 5. How does Chris feeling being in the company of Jordan and Dr. Feinstein? -Chris feels uncomfortable saying "..I feel weird with him here." -Jaryn Pitkowsky


 * WEEK TWO:**

Summary: This week Jaryn brought bagels. They were good. We came to a conclusion that the book is a little confusing but were getting through it slowly. The Chapters we read about this week were finding out that the families have been having a very hard time with coping the death. We found out that Remacks grandmother and the mom lived together. We realized that the families that have very special bond with one another. -Taylor Kennedy

-Jaryn
 * Language**: This week, the book showed language of confusion. In the past few chapters we have read, the characters are trying to figure out what is happening. When we realized that the families have a very special bond with one another, this suicide attempt has left them stunned. Trying to reveal the trust is hard to keep up so this week was very confusing for our group.

Questions: 1. How do you think the flash backs effect the story? It effects the story because it gives an idea of how they grew up and what they went through together. 2. How do you think the Golds are dealing with the chance that their best friends son may have killed their daughter. We think they must be hurt, and wondering if their whole friendship was a lie 3. What do you think the Golds and the Hartes first reaction was to the death of Emily? We think they were probably shocked, and thought it was just a joke. They all thought they had good lives and that this would never happen to one of their children. If we were in Chris's position we would feel very guilty. He must feel like this is all his fault and not know how to deal with whats going on in his life. 5.Do you like the way Jodi Picoult wrote her characters? yes, we all find the characters to be very realistic. we think emily is relatable and anyone in the situation of the Golds and the Hartes would feel the same way. - colleen gargiulo WEEK ONE:**
 * 4. How do you think Chris feels?

Summary: Our book is “The Pact”. The Pact is about two neighbors who share everything together. They soon get a call at midnight from a hospital saying that one of the main characters Emily, is dead. We picked this book because we wanted to find out what happened to the families who have to go through this heartache. We read the first section on book club this week. We learned that they live next to each other and they love each other as people. They figure out that Emily is dead when they get a phone call from the hospital saying Emily is dead. Everything changes for this family. -Taylor Kennedy

Questions-Jaryn **1.** How do you feel the family environment from the Hartes and the Golds reflected on their children? -I feel that the environment created by the Hartes and the Golds affected their children in a positive way. They have known each other for a long time and their relationship reflects on their children. -No -This statement shows that she is a little hesitant about letting this man be control of the burial because he is suspicious. -I think emily is most adoptable because she has the most problems and some people might be able to relate. Even though she is dead there is much more to learn about her.
 * 2. ** Did it contribute to Emily's suicide?
 * 3.** On page 31 is the following statement: "How could she trust this man, so imprecise with his words, to take care of the burial?" What does this mean to you?
 * 4 . ** Which character in the book is the most adaptable? Why?
 * 5 . ** Which character are you most like? why?

Theme - Colleen

The main characters in the story are the Hartes and the Golds. The Hartes consist of James, his wife Gus and their son Chris. The Golds consist of Michael, his wife Melanie and their daughter Emily. The two families are neighbors and have been best friends for eighteen years. Both families are very close and their teenagers Chris and Emily are dating. The two families do everything together. And for Chris and Emily that includes attempted suicide. Chris and Emily had a suicide pact, that killed Emily but not Chris. We also meet Jordan McAfee, who is Chris’s attorney in the trial.