Sky vs. Dan

Use this forum to discuss the June 2019 Book of the month, "Cynthia and Dan: Cyber War" by Dorothy May Mercer.
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Hugo_W
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Post by Hugo_W »

I thought it might be an interesting thing to discuss whether people were more creeped out by Dan's behavior - such as bugging Cynthia's car and falsely reporting Sky to the police - or Sky's behavior - inviting a strange woman to his apartment, the unprotected sex, the letters.
Personally, I thought Sky was more of a villain than Dan. he had more potential to go south, and seemed unstable and brash in Cynthia's company. i wanted him to get away from her, and thought that no woman would ever react in the ways that she did.

What do you guys think? also, do you think that the author's depiction of Cynthia's reactions creates a worrisome picture of how women should react to advances? and do you agree with the hypothesis that Dan fed Cynthia the abortion pill?

I think they might be the most interesting characters to analyze.
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Post by Letora »

Oh, Sky gave me the creeps throughout the whole book. He displayed so many signs of obsession and stalker that I wanted to scream at Cynthia to stay away. Dan was mad and made poor decisions because he was heartbroken, but Sky was just downright obnoxious.

And I think the way Cynthia responded to Sky gives the wrong idea of what you should do in a similar situation.
"Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope." - Dr. Seuss
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Post by kristib44 »

Man, I wasn't aware of the theory that he fed her the abortion pill. But I agree that both characters gave me the creeps. When Dan came over and took care of her, he was a little too friendly for someone who'd had his heart broken. And Sky going to the church to get forgiveness before practically stalking her in paper form made me very uncomfortable. Clearly, he had immense amounts of guilt for the act he perpetuated, but he felt it was enough to be in love with someone and ask them to marry him? Neither character particularly struck me as someone I'd like to associate with.
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Hugo_W
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Post by Hugo_W »

Letora wrote: 25 Jul 2019, 08:04 Oh, Sky gave me the creeps throughout the whole book. He displayed so many signs of obsession and stalker that I wanted to scream at Cynthia to stay away. Dan was mad and made poor decisions because he was heartbroken, but Sky was just downright obnoxious.

And I think the way Cynthia responded to Sky gives the wrong idea of what you should do in a similar situation.
Yeah, Dan had a motive - he'd been with her for three years, anyway, and we don't know much about his personality aside from that...so his actions aren't actually that much of a stretch! Sky? he just looks like he direly needs some help, and has gotten along so far via status and apparently being an attractive person. oof.
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Post by Hugo_W »

kristib44 wrote: 25 Jul 2019, 11:24 Man, I wasn't aware of the theory that he fed her the abortion pill. But I agree that both characters gave me the creeps. When Dan came over and took care of her, he was a little too friendly for someone who'd had his heart broken. And Sky going to the church to get forgiveness before practically stalking her in paper form made me very uncomfortable. Clearly, he had immense amounts of guilt for the act he perpetuated, but he felt it was enough to be in love with someone and ask them to marry him? Neither character particularly struck me as someone I'd like to associate with.
Yeah, the characters seemed to fluctuate like that a lot. that's why people think that Dan could have done something a bit more sinister when he checked on Cynthia - besides, how did he not see the condoms, Plan B box OR abortion pill when he was in her bathroom? though i'm not sure if the author thinks about plot deeply enough to add a twist that neat...sadly. also agree about the church scene - it just seemed like it was there for somebody to encourage Sky's actions, aka the priest saying they should get married. it was out of place aside from that, to me.
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Post by Delaney35 »

Letora wrote: 25 Jul 2019, 08:04 Oh, Sky gave me the creeps throughout the whole book. He displayed so many signs of obsession and stalker that I wanted to scream at Cynthia to stay away. Dan was mad and made poor decisions because he was heartbroken, but Sky was just downright obnoxious.

And I think the way Cynthia responded to Sky gives the wrong idea of what you should do in a similar situation.
I agree. I think Cynthia shouldn't have ended with with him or Dan. Neither of them were good for her and both acted really creepy and like stalkers.
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Post by Aditi Sapate »

I agree that Dan is the lesser of the two evils. It's hard to say definitively because there's just too much drama involved.
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Post by elizablu »

This maybe an unpopular opinion but I actually liked Sky. I understand Dan is the true love ex that the love kind of fizzled out but I believe Sky helped bring a spark back to Cynthia. We all have a guy or girl that we might know is bad for us but they help us grow as a person and help you become the person you want to be in the long run! Even if they are manipulative, its a situation that can help someone look deep and decide how they want to be and respond to the hard roads of life.
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Post by RachelRovere »

I definitely agree Cynthia's swooning reactions to Sky's obsessive and stalker-like behavior is kind of dangerous, especially to young readers. Sky does things without Cynthia's permission over and over again (like entering her house when she's not aware, forcing her into a restaurant and preventing her from leaving) but because his disposition is kind and his words are gentlemanly, we as the reader are expected to see him as a man in love instead of as a predator? Fortunately he turned out to be a good guy in the end, but if you met a person in real life who behaved this way, chances are you wouldn't have the same result.

I honestly didn't like either of the love interests, but I would actually have to say Dan is the lesser of the evils. His actions are ridiculous but at least his motives make sense - having been stood up, cheated on and then ignored by a long term partner. His actions were also obviously problematic, but at least the author explicitly made him the villain he was instead of excusing his behavior because he did it out of love.
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Post by Fiyin »

Sky might have been exceptionally creepy and he did do a lot of bad things but I still prefer him to Dan. The author didn't tell us much about Dan and he did a lot of unreasonable things,cynthia would be better of without either of them.
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Post by Imani_O »

Overall, I think Sky and Dan were very similar in the ways that they more or less propositioned Cynthia, and kind of manipulated their way into her life(or back into her life, for Dan). Dan pretended that he was just trying to be a good friend while Cynthia was ill, even though he wasn't acting at all like an actual friend would, but Sky took advantage of Cynthia being vulnerable(not having a means of transportation home) in order to get her to talk to and go home with him. I definitely think that if Cynthia and Sky were to have separated or fallen out for some reason, Sky's manipulative traits would likely get the better of him, causing him to become spiteful and hurtful the way Dan did canonically, after Cynthia told him once again that she didn't want to be with him.
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Post by WWhite2 »

Sky's character took center stage throughout most of the book. However, Dan did come out swinging before it was all said and done. Some of the characters were a little peculiar especially Sky! I can't believe Cynthia said YES! I must admit- it left me wanting more.
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Post by iknwuzoh »

Dan is not known from the way the author wrote but Sky is well known and is still preferable to a certain degree than Dan. This is why Sky is better.
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Post by bmfought »

RachelRovere wrote: 04 Aug 2019, 07:45 I definitely agree Cynthia's swooning reactions to Sky's obsessive and stalker-like behavior is kind of dangerous, especially to young readers. Sky does things without Cynthia's permission over and over again (like entering her house when she's not aware, forcing her into a restaurant and preventing her from leaving) but because his disposition is kind and his words are gentlemanly, we as the reader are expected to see him as a man in love instead of as a predator? Fortunately he turned out to be a good guy in the end, but if you met a person in real life who behaved this way, chances are you wouldn't have the same result.

I honestly didn't like either of the love interests, but I would actually have to say Dan is the lesser of the evils. His actions are ridiculous but at least his motives make sense - having been stood up, cheated on and then ignored by a long term partner. His actions were also obviously problematic, but at least the author explicitly made him the villain he was instead of excusing his behavior because he did it out of love.
I think you said it exactly how I would. Sky's actions were creepy and obsessive. In this day and age, if someone went into your house, you wouldn't be swooning.
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Post by Jade1692 »

elizablu wrote: 03 Aug 2019, 21:32 This maybe an unpopular opinion but I actually liked Sky. I understand Dan is the true love ex that the love kind of fizzled out but I believe Sky helped bring a spark back to Cynthia. We all have a guy or girl that we might know is bad for us but they help us grow as a person and help you become the person you want to be in the long run! Even if they are manipulative, its a situation that can help someone look deep and decide how they want to be and respond to the hard roads of life.
I understand where you are coming from, some people that aren't good for you can help make you into the person you want to be. But the opposite is just as likely--that a manipulative, controlling person can put you in a cage that you don't realize is happening until it's too late to separate gracefully or sanely. Cynthia may have gotten her spark back from being around Sky, but a spark that ignites the cold fireplace to bring joy and warmth is also capable of burning the house down if used improperly. I don't think that either were good for Cynthia, to be fair.
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