Susanna Sonnenberg begins this "Going Straight" chapter as a more matured adult who meets an English guy visiting from London. They have an instant connection when they first meet. Although they don't know each other well, he tells her everything. Eventually, he tells her that he has fallen in love with her. When Daphne visits and goes out to dinner with Susy and her boyfriend Gordon, she embarrasses Susy. She tells Gordon that he "must be good in bed" (Sonnenberg 178) because Susy would not date him otherwise. This comment taints Susy and Daphne's relationship even more because they end up not talking for a while.
A year later, Susy and Gordon are living together in an apartment in New York, as they have been for the past year. Gordon's feelings for Susy has changed and they begin to drift far apart. Little things about Susy suddenly begins to annoy him and he becomes extremely private and secretive towards her. One night after they sleep together, he tells her he doesn't love her anymore. Later on, he dumps her and then becomes interested in someone else.
Regardless of the harsh breakup Susy faces, it results in bringing her much closer to her mother. Susy visits Daphne in Barbados, where she now lives with her new husband. There, Susy is told by her mother that she has a lump in her breast.
After the break up, Susy enters a point in her life where all she wants to do is to sleep with anyone she could possible lay her hands on. One day, she encounters an old acquaintance who is a woman. She is very attracted to this particular woman and desperately wishes to kiss her. Another day, she goes out to a restaurant with the woman and the woman's boyfriend. The three of them become drunk and go back to their apartment. They all have a threesome but Susy would have preferred it if it is just her and the woman.
When Susy is twenty seven years old living in Montana, she begins to write a novel about her mother. In addition, at this stage in her life is where her life changes. She meets the love of her life and her present husband. At first, she is thinking she has never met a man like him. She finds him to be very different and surely unlike the type she usually goes for. Regardless, she knows at the particular point that he is the one made for her and all she wants to do is to be with him. She then attempts to seduce him many times. He never becomes submissive despite her trials. Two weeks alter, he feels ready and they do it.
Soon after, the couple elope without an official ceremony. Daphne and Penelope are extremely disappointed that she never involves them with her marriage. While they are married, their well-loved dog, Ruby, dies. They both love him as if she is their own child. After the death of the dog, Susy discovers that she is pregnant. However, miscarriages run in her family. Likewise, it happens to her.
Susy and Christopher are a very happy couple living together in an apartment in Montana. Susy is a waitress while Christopher works in a legal firm. Once again, she becomes pregnant. She is left with the decision to either keep the baby, to kill the baby, or to give up the baby for adoption. Because she is married, her husband has to be involved with the decision as well. Her tells her that he is not quite ready or prepared to have a kid just yet. She then goes through with an abortion. After, she faces normal issues many women face after abortion: depression and guilt. She decides she wants to make an impact on women who are put in the same shoes so she becomes a counselor for women who have had an abortion or are considering it.
When Christopher is finally ready for kids, he tells Susy. This chapter, "Choosing" ends with Susy saying that she tells her children about the abortion. In addition to talking to her children about varieties of topics, she shows them the tender love a good mother should show to her child. As much as possible, she tries to refrain from doing onto her children what her mother did onto her. By doing so, her biggest goal is to be a GOOD parent.
Quote
"Sometimes I didn't make it to the first date. The deli owner turned over the Closed sign , and we had sex on the counter, my bare skin on butcher block. I seduced an Orthodox rabbi. I left a Paris restaurant with two brothers, and the put me in their car and drove me deep into a part of the city I didn't know." (Sonnenberg 188)
Reaction
In this one quote, I realize that Susy is becoming her mother. Earlier in the book, Susy says her mom slept with everyone - from janitors to business men to actors. In this quote, as she is much older, she sleeps with a deli owner, Orthodox rabbi, and even random strangers. I feel like it's not something that she wants to do or is trying to do but it's just something she knows and is use to. Often times, kids pick up on the habits of their parents. Sleeping with multiple people is the habit of Susy's mother so it's a habit Susy picks up on because she doesn't know any better. She might not even know it's a wrong thing to do. Here you have her mother, who is suppose to be her role model and the leading lady in her life performing all these bad acts. What do you expect the daughter to do? The same thing. She doesn't know the other side: the moral side.
After the break up, Susy enters a point in her life where all she wants to do is to sleep with anyone she could possible lay her hands on. One day, she encounters an old acquaintance who is a woman. She is very attracted to this particular woman and desperately wishes to kiss her. Another day, she goes out to a restaurant with the woman and the woman's boyfriend. The three of them become drunk and go back to their apartment. They all have a threesome but Susy would have preferred it if it is just her and the woman.
When Susy is twenty seven years old living in Montana, she begins to write a novel about her mother. In addition, at this stage in her life is where her life changes. She meets the love of her life and her present husband. At first, she is thinking she has never met a man like him. She finds him to be very different and surely unlike the type she usually goes for. Regardless, she knows at the particular point that he is the one made for her and all she wants to do is to be with him. She then attempts to seduce him many times. He never becomes submissive despite her trials. Two weeks alter, he feels ready and they do it.
Soon after, the couple elope without an official ceremony. Daphne and Penelope are extremely disappointed that she never involves them with her marriage. While they are married, their well-loved dog, Ruby, dies. They both love him as if she is their own child. After the death of the dog, Susy discovers that she is pregnant. However, miscarriages run in her family. Likewise, it happens to her.
Susy and Christopher are a very happy couple living together in an apartment in Montana. Susy is a waitress while Christopher works in a legal firm. Once again, she becomes pregnant. She is left with the decision to either keep the baby, to kill the baby, or to give up the baby for adoption. Because she is married, her husband has to be involved with the decision as well. Her tells her that he is not quite ready or prepared to have a kid just yet. She then goes through with an abortion. After, she faces normal issues many women face after abortion: depression and guilt. She decides she wants to make an impact on women who are put in the same shoes so she becomes a counselor for women who have had an abortion or are considering it.
When Christopher is finally ready for kids, he tells Susy. This chapter, "Choosing" ends with Susy saying that she tells her children about the abortion. In addition to talking to her children about varieties of topics, she shows them the tender love a good mother should show to her child. As much as possible, she tries to refrain from doing onto her children what her mother did onto her. By doing so, her biggest goal is to be a GOOD parent.
Quote
"Sometimes I didn't make it to the first date. The deli owner turned over the Closed sign , and we had sex on the counter, my bare skin on butcher block. I seduced an Orthodox rabbi. I left a Paris restaurant with two brothers, and the put me in their car and drove me deep into a part of the city I didn't know." (Sonnenberg 188)
Reaction
In this one quote, I realize that Susy is becoming her mother. Earlier in the book, Susy says her mom slept with everyone - from janitors to business men to actors. In this quote, as she is much older, she sleeps with a deli owner, Orthodox rabbi, and even random strangers. I feel like it's not something that she wants to do or is trying to do but it's just something she knows and is use to. Often times, kids pick up on the habits of their parents. Sleeping with multiple people is the habit of Susy's mother so it's a habit Susy picks up on because she doesn't know any better. She might not even know it's a wrong thing to do. Here you have her mother, who is suppose to be her role model and the leading lady in her life performing all these bad acts. What do you expect the daughter to do? The same thing. She doesn't know the other side: the moral side.
- What was Penelope's experience throughout the stages of Susy's life? Did her mother treat her the same way like she treated Susy? Did she go through the same difficult time with her mum?
- Was Daphne's mother like this as well?
- At the time, did Susy know that what her mother was doing wasn't right?
- Did she realize she was becoming her mother?
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