Angela's Character

Use this forum to discuss the June 2018 Book of the Month"The Girl Who Knew da Vinci" by Belle Ami
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Angela's Character

Post by bookowlie »

What did you think about Angela's character? In the beginning of the story, she is described as brilliant by her former professor/mentor and seems to be a serious person. However, I found my opinion of her went down as the story progressed. The past-life regression was overdone and it made her seem like a silly character after a while.
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Even a brilliant and extraordinary character can be broken when faced with things that are out of the reach of human mind span. Rather than seeing as over doing of the past life regression, I see the change of her character in that aspect.
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Post by Cristina Chifane »

Yeah, you're right. On the whole, she seemed so helpless although she is first introduced as a strong woman with a doctorate in progress and the internship of her dreams. She gradually relies completely on Alex who apparently becomes her boss in both her professional and private life. :) I wish the romance had not overtaken the plot to the detriment of a more complex puzzle and potential search for clues leading to the recovery of the missing painting.
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Post by K Geisinger »

bookowlie wrote: 01 Jun 2018, 09:27 What did you think about Angela's character? In the beginning of the story, she is described as brilliant by her former professor/mentor and seems to be a serious person. However, I found my opinion of her went down as the story progressed. The past-life regression was overdone and it made her seem like a silly character after a while.
I completely agree. She turns from a strong and motivated woman into an immensely unlikable character. She spends more time weeping than solving any of her own problems. All of her interactions with Alex end either in sex, with crying, or sometimes both. I don't think the author did a good job keeping Angela's strength while having her rely on Alex.
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Post by Manang Muyang »

Angela solved the mystery all by herself, but she needed Alex's money and connections to do it. Although I enjoyed the book, I don't think we should expect it to be a classic. There are just too many questions left hanging even after the final scene.

I understand that the book is part of a series. I wonder what the next books will be about.
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Post by Jgideon »

Thanks to the creativity of the author, Angela's education and brilliant mind would not have solved the mystery without the past-life regression. I think that's the whole idea about the story. I do agree with you that somehow the regressions made her look silly but her ability to solve the puzzle makes her a strong character.
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Post by revna01 »

I feel like the relationship between Angela and Alex did no favors to Angela's likeability. With the extent and nature of her education, I would have expected a stronger character throughout the book.
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Post by thaservices1 »

Angela was just wishy-washy and unbelievable. One scene she's Ms Tuffstuff. The next scene she's having a meltdown because her new man is too rich.
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Post by bookowlie »

SABRADLEY wrote: 06 Jun 2018, 09:56 I feel like the relationship between Angela and Alex did no favors to Angela's likeability. With the extent and nature of her education, I would have expected a stronger character throughout the book.
I totally agree. Angela was recommended to Alex by her college professor/mentor as someone who was brilliant and an expert in Renaissance art. However, her expertise doesn't comes across too well during the story. I assume it's because she is too busy having visions, falling unconscious in public places, and getting into romantic/sexual situations with Alex. Like you, I had anticipated her character to be more in control. She seems to follow Alex's lead much of the time.
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

Her professor certainly described her as strong, but I never felt that was conveyed very well. Her expertise in art comes across early in the book, but she doesn’t really stand up for herself very much. She let her first boss run over her out of fear. She has all these visions, but she’s mostly just a conduit for the plot to keep moving forward. There is not much I have seen her actually contribute to the story, though I’m only about halfway through at this point.
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Post by Sanju Lali »

Angelia's smartness in academic career and her past life regression are both two separate aspects of her life, however, inter mingling of these two as portrayed in the play helped to solve the puzzle
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Post by Zain A Blade »

I also felt there was an inconsistency in Angela's character. You can either be intuitive and a romantic or rational and a realist, not both.
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Post by Ana-Maria-Diana »

Angela`s character indeed suffers a regression, one would expect her to evolve not to surrender, but it is still the profile of some of the contemporary women. They fight to overcome their condition and be independent, but forget about their desires when THE man comes into their live. So, I do not judge her, because she is representative of our contemporary environment.
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Post by SereneCharles »

The more I read comments on this particular character, the more I think I won't like her too towards the end. How could she start out a strong and resilient character, and end up like that? Sorry for her though.
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Post by AbbyGNelson »

cristinaro wrote: 04 Jun 2018, 07:02 Yeah, you're right. On the whole, she seemed so helpless although she is first introduced as a strong woman with a doctorate in progress and the internship of her dreams. She gradually relies completely on Alex who apparently becomes her boss in both her professional and private life. :) I wish the romance had not overtaken the plot to the detriment of a more complex puzzle and potential search for clues leading to the recovery of the missing painting.
Ugh. I hate when this happens to female characters. I haven't read this book, and now I don't want to ever read it.
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