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The Misfortune of Marion Palm by Emily Culliton

Meeting date: August 28, 2018 ;
Star rating: 2.3/5 stars

A wildly entertaining debut about a Brooklyn Heights wife and mother who has embezzled a small fortune from her children's private school and makes a run for it, leaving behind her trust fund poet husband, his maybe-secret lover, her two daughters, and a school board who will do anything to find her.

Marion Palm prefers not to think of herself as a thief but rather "a woman who embezzles." Over the years she has managed to steal $180,000 from her daughters' private school, money that has paid for European vacations, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and perpetually unused state-of-the-art exercise equipment. But, now, when the school faces an audit, Marion pulls piles of rubber-banded cash from their basement hiding places and flees, leaving her family to grapple with the baffled detectives, the irate school board, and the mother-shaped hole in their house. Told from the points of view of Nathan, Marion's husband, heir to a long-diminished family fortune; Ginny, Marion's teenage daughter who falls helplessly in love at the slightest provocation; Jane, Marion's youngest who is obsessed with a missing person of her own; and Marion herself, on the lam--and hiding in plain sight.

Comments and questions from attendees:
  • Marion is heartless, smart, and opportunistic. Marion really isn't a bad person (surprising statement!). We don't actually dislike her, but we don't like her either. It's a neutral reaction. Some of the group felt sorry for her.
  • For Marion, embezzling might be her source of self-value and self-esteem. 
  • Marion believes embezzling is a victim-less crime and that the school deserved it for not taking responsibility for their own financials. We aren't sure we agree.
  • Nathan is absolutely a horrible husband. He produced a definite dislike from all attendees. He's so selfish!
  • The children were just thrown in the story. Many thought the kids could be removed from the story all together without much issue.
  • The only good guy was a detective!
  • There is a disconnection between all characters and bonds do not exist, especially not within the Palm family.
  • We are more judgmental of women who abandon their children than men who abandon their children. Why is that?
  • Jane and Ginny never fault Marion or hate her for leaving. What does that say about their family?
Lowest rating: 1
Highest rating: 3

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