Which characters can you identify with? And why?

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

I'm can't identify with any of them totally. But I can identify with a part of each of them. Perhaps that is why I could still always have empathy for them even when I disagreed with them. So I'll only talk about the parts I COULD identify with since there's so many I couldn't.

I could identify with Katie in being afraid of being pregnant and fearing disappointing my parents. I never wanted to disappoint my parents, and always wanted them to be proud of me. I could identify with Aaron in having my beliefs and sticking to them whether others have them or not. I could identify with Sarah not wanting to lose contact with a son and wanting to help a daughter. I could identify with Ellie in wanting to be independent and also going all out to defend someone I thought was being treated unfairly. I could also identify with Samuel, because if I loved someone, even if I thought they were wrong or they had hurt me, I would support them and be by their side.

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I could definitely relate to Katie, like I said before. Sarah not so much. I really liked Samual's character, a lot. But what sin did he confess to?? Did it ever say?? You know when he is talking to the Bishop and he says I want to marry Katie but first I have to confess?? I will have to look up the page number....

ETA: and Ellie, I could relate to Ellie, wanting to get away and think about things, and then be "hit" with wanting/needing to help someone else. Very intriging (sp) character.

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

Page 123....but now that I re-read it. He didn't confess to anything did he?? AHHHH clever author.

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

BTW ~ the author was asked this question also, and here is her answer:

"Not Sarah! I would guess it's Ellie, if only because I came to the culture the same way she does -- a blank slate who had to learn a whole world before I could move in it without making a misstep. And also because, like Ellie, my career is a huge part of my life...but I have learned that it takes a back seat to the rewards I reap from being with my family."

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

Didn't Samuel confess that he wanted the baby to be his? I don't have the book here anymore, maybe he just confessed that to Katie?

I guess having strict parents, i could relate more to Katie and understand why she was so afraid to tell anyone about her pregnancy. Can also sympathize with Samuel, for loving someone so much only to have them betray you.

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

I agree that I could relate to Katie as far as not disappointing my parents and, while I am not Amish, I was incredibly naive at 18. Maybe not as much as her, but more than most 18 year olds in this day.

I could relate to Sarah. Here is this mother, with a domineering husband, who has lost two children already and lost 3, I think, babies through miscarriage. That would be tough. I don't know if I would do what she did, but that is tough to call.

Ellie, I had trouble relating to, to be honest. For somebody so sure of herself, she was messed up. I am a bit more decisive than that. I also had a hard time getting past the defense attorney, getting pedophiles off, stuff. Just me though . . .

Am i the only one who was a little disappointed in the ending that the author didn't give us closure on Ellie's life.......did she have a healthy baby? was it a boy or a girl? Did she marry the father? Did she go back to the Law firm she worked for?
I always hate it when book leaves you hanging!

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

I suppose we have to use our imagination.

I would like to think that she married Cooper, and that the baby was healthy, and they lived happily ever after.

That is how I took everything anyway.

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe