The descendants

Read this book some moons ago but forgot to review it...
Heard the movie was pretty good. So decided to borrow the book. Not too bad a read. Set in Hawaii, the story spun around a wife/mother in a coma and how the husband and two daughters dealt with the situation. I only remember the daughters' names were Alex and Scottie and forgot about the rest. I think the wife was Joan or Joanie...something like that.

Scottie , the youngest daughter , seemed to have the hardest time dealing with a vegetable mother. Her mother was a beautiful adventurer and Scottie was hell bent on creating an adventure for herself so that she could have an interesting story to tell her mother. Pretty sad as she knowingly put herself in danger just for a piece of story for Joanie.

The husband inherited a land And was debating whether to keep it or sell it to a developer. The local community opposed the idea of having it sold. The wife had, before her coma, took a very high interest in the land and worked hard to have it sold to a particular developer.

It was at midway through the story that the husband found out that his wife was having an affair with the property dealer , who was the brother in law of the developer.

A very complicated web of lies....

Alex, the elder daughter knew about the affair but did not have the heart to tell her father. Instead she rebelled against her mother and eventually left home.

She told her father the truth one fine day and they went to visit the man at the centre of the messy affairs. He had plotted to tell the man's wife. I can't remember if the husband did just that or the dealer confessed to her about it. But the truth was out and the wife visited Joanie. Joanie was eventually pulled off life support and the husband decided to keep the land for his descendants.

Quite an interesting read. But it makes you wonder what the deal is about marriage, affairs, and all its burden and complications. Sometimes people marry for the most selfish reasons, to satisfy our own yearnings, goals, and to curb our fears of loneliness. Or just for the sale of companionship. It's almost rarely about what we want to give to other party and wanting what's best for him or her. Eventually the other party sees through our motives and selfish goals, and the bubble pops.