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Okay I will be the first to say it. Darwin was my favorite character. I found his psyche incredibly interesting and it was great fun trying to understand his "discipline." In most books that I have read, a serial killer's cause is not necessarily revealed - in Rubin's book we actually see that his mother was the main cause of his emotional strife and hatred towards larger people. It makes his character so much more interesting to see his backstory and his overwhelming emotions and mental deterioration taking over his actual self. We see Darwin's true form and identity become so lost that not even he is willing to go by his real name or live a normal life. I found his character both equally easy to hate but also easy to pity. The Voice completely shuts him down, takes away his reality, his name, his being, and controls him like a puppet simply by meshing its thoughts with Darwin's. Maybe I read too much into his character but I just found him absolutely fascinating!

-- 07 Mar 2016, 21:38 --

bookowlie wrote:I also liked Tito! He was more daring than Jeremy and basically extended the hand of friendship to Jeremy. Jeremy was too shy and self-conscious about his weight so he would not have reached out to Tito on his own. Also, due to his bullying grandfather being home 24/7, Jeremy would never have invited someone to hang out at his house. Tito was so nice to walk home with him and invite him over - this really helped Jeremy gain a little self-confidence by having a friend. Tito's encouragement and his defense of him at school made Jeremy feel like someone cared about him. Although his mom was nice to him, Jeremy's grandfather and his mom's ex-boyfriend made him feel ugly and worthless. Tito was a big catalyst to help Jeremy feel good about himself.

Absolutely! Tito was fantastic. I loved the caring nature that he had for Jeremy, even after the whole Facebook prank fiasco. On top of that, Tito was so incredibly nerdy and I loved that about him. It made the character so relatable. One thing I did wonder, early on, was whether he could possibly be Darwin - the love of bridges and models reminded me of Darwin's puzzle fetish. Tito was much too nice to be Darwin but I did think it was an interesting link between the ultimate good and ultimate evil of the book.

I've made progress--I think I have about 20% of the book to finish. This author has done a great job with ALL the characters so far. I still say Jeremy and Tito are my favorites, but maybe I should wait until I've finished the book to make that determination...

MsMartha wrote:I have to agree--I like Jeremy and Tito! That being said, I'm only about a third of the way into the book, so I suppose it's possible I'll change my mind at some point.

One thing that impresses me is that none of the characters are "perfect" people. They all have issues of some kind, and they're doing what they can do, and doing it as well as they can. Kind of like real folks...

Yes. I have been noticing that recently in all the book that I have been reading. I like that the characters have flaws and make mistakes. It makes the character more realistic. No one is perfect all the time.

HorrorFan87 wrote:Okay I will be the first to say it. Darwin was my favorite character. I found his psyche incredibly interesting and it was great fun trying to understand his "discipline." In most books that I have read, a serial killer's cause is not necessarily revealed - in Rubin's book we actually see that his mother was the main cause of his emotional strife and hatred towards larger people. It makes his character so much more interesting to see his backstory and his overwhelming emotions and mental deterioration taking over his actual self. We see Darwin's true form and identity become so lost that not even he is willing to go by his real name or live a normal life. I found his character both equally easy to hate but also easy to pity. The Voice completely shuts him down, takes away his reality, his name, his being, and controls him like a puppet simply by meshing its thoughts with Darwin's. Maybe I read too much into his character but I just found him absolutely fascinating!

Which reminds me of something I was thinking about while reading the book...

I was getting the impression that The Voice was a symptom of what used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. (I can't remember what it's called now.) The condition is that the person is made up completely different personalities that may or may not realize that the other personalities exist. It seems that the "statistician self" personality (I can never remember this character's real name) was becoming more and more suppressed by the Darwin personality throughout the course of the book. The statistician, as a separate personality, would actually be an innocent victim of Darwin too.

My favorite character is Jeremy. I've never been as big as he is, but I've always struggled with my weight. I definitely can see where his character is coming from.

I finished the book, and still have the same favorite characters. But I also have to say this author did a fabulous job with ALL of them--and that isn't something I experience often.

Definitely Jeremy. He was easy to empathize with, especially since there were many situations in which he had very little control. Sue and Connie both had aspects of their personalities that made them irritating at times. (I guess that's true of real people also.)

tortoise keeper wrote:Definitely Jeremy. He was easy to empathize with, especially since there were many situations in which he had very little control. Sue and Connie both had aspects of their personalities that made them irritating at times. (I guess that's true of real people also.)

Agree with that
Jeremy is my favorite too
I hate connie, as well

Both Jeremy and Tito were my favorites! Jeremy pulled through in the end saving everyone and started to turn his life around. Tito was an all around strong person. Love them both!

chytach18- wrote:Jeremy, with no doubt. I could visualise him and I feel for him. From the first page of the book, I wanted to protect him. He's real. I took an instant dislike of his grandfather also from the first page and was struggling to change my mind throughout the book. I remember my late grandfather as the most lovely and caring man. Sue - I don't know. She meant good, but so often we meet people whose second name is "bull". Connie could be a lovely mother if she had some personality herself.

Very well explained. My favorite character is Jeremy, too. His character has a lot of elements in it, and he has a personality. I connected with his character almost instantly.

I have to say that it was Jeremy, definitely! I could picture and imagine his pain, and everything he was going trough. Sometimes I wished I could just jump into the book and give him a big hug. Lovely character.

tortoise keeper wrote:Definitely Jeremy. He was easy to empathize with, especially since there were many situations in which he had very little control. Sue and Connie both had aspects of their personalities that made them irritating at times. (I guess that's true of real people also.)

I agree about Sue and Connie. Sue was too domineering and rigid - the my way or the highway mentality. Connie focused more on her love life than her son.

bookowlie wrote:

tortoise keeper wrote:Definitely Jeremy. He was easy to empathize with, especially since there were many situations in which he had very little control. Sue and Connie both had aspects of their personalities that made them irritating at times. (I guess that's true of real people also.)

I agree about Sue and Connie. Sue was too domineering and rigid - the my way or the highway mentality. Connie focused more on her love life than her son.

I couldn't put it better myself. Nicely said tortoise keeper and bookowlie!

While he was the villain in this story, the character I thought who was portrayed the best was Darwin. I thought the author did a great job creating real characters, each with positive and negative attributes.

Tito, for sure...!! He was strong and did the right thing, he was not scared, stood up for himself and his friend,also he was quite intelligent.